24 One Tough Day, between s1 and s2 of 24
by JackAddict
Summary: A high ranking politician is assassined, Kim skips school & disappears. Jack is still in mourning but about to be forced back into action. A real new 24 day waiting for readers and reviews. Perfect for withdrawal symptoms. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the 24 characters. FOX does.**_

**The following takes place between Day 1 and Day 2 of _Twenty-Four_**

**The following takes place between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.**

**08:00:00 --- 08:00:01 --- 08:00:02 --- 08:00:03**

**C.T.U.**

It is the beginning of another working day at Counter Terrorist Unit in Los Angeles. The staff are busy, as always, checking backgrounds and collecting intel. Michelle Dessler walks in and starts up her terminal. She glances up. The glass office on the upper floor is empty. Jack Bauer's office. He's been through so much lately, she thinks. Her thoughts are suddenly interrupted by Tony Almeida approaching.

"Tony, good morning. Had a nice weekend?"

"Just another weekend," Tony keeps his head low as he passes by Michelle on his way to his own desk, Cubs mug in hand. He isn't ready to cultivate a personal conversation yet. "Has anyone run back up on last night's intel? I can't seem to find the last six hours worth of data." He feels like he's talking to himself as he punches numbers that blur into oblivion on the screen.

"I don't know. I'll check it myself." Michelle starts typing away on her keyboard immediately. How could they lose that much data? And it's still so early in the morning. Not even a cup of coffee in sight yet.

"No, no, no...stop." Tony runs his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry, I'm just...nevermind. You've got other stuff to take care of. The back up is my job." He forgot to do it. Another in a growing list of mistakes.

"Hey, Michelle? You never told me how your weekend went. How's your brother?"

**George Mason's car **

George Mason is driving down the highway towards CTU returning from another crap breakfast meeting at division.

He thinks: Seriously, Brad Hammond is such an idiot he'll probably strangle himself with a cordless phone one of these days.

He'd been waiting months to hear from Palmer, but now he had his cushy office job (well Oval Office job) people like George had been sent to the bottom rung of the ladder. 

He arrives at CTU, parks the car and enters the building for another day of merriment. The security guard on the door says "morning"

George: "Morning Dave."

George liked Dave. He was an undemanding pleasant guy, who never asked George about crime statistics and terror threats, but about stuff like the Raiders games and the price of beer.

As he reaches CTU's main floor, George spots Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler and wonders if the two have admitted their feelings to themselves or each other yet. Unlikely, would be his bet.

Michelle: "He's okay Tony, thanks for asking. Look, since I'm already on it, I'll just try to find out what happened, ok?"

George walks in on them: "Tony, anything fun happen, while I got my wrists slapped over a cup of decaff?"

Michelle sees George walking in and stops talking. He and his sarcastic comments all the time, she's thinking. Like they always had time to joke about things. Moments like these, she was somehow missing Jack. It was sort of easier to work when he was there. Everybody knew what they had to do and he had a way with George that nobody else dared do.

Tony shared a knowing glance with Michelle then stood from his chair to meet his boss as he walked to his office. "We're getting together the overnight tracking data as well as new intel from the borders. I'll have it on your desk in an hour. And, can I suggest you switch to regular? You look beat."

"Yeah a meeting at Division can do that to you. Oh we've got another one Thursday, they want both of us there. Some new infra-structure initiative or something." George said dismissing it with a casual wave of the hand.

Tony: "You know, I really can't make that meeting. Sorry." He really didn't have the patience to hear babble about new technology that he'd have to learn whether he liked it or not. "Anyway, that intel...why don't I go get that?" Tony didn't wait for an answer as he walked away back to his desk, back to his mug.

Michelle looks at Tony from behind her screen. He's so tense, she's thinking. But who can blame him? The job was demanding and he, well he was just too cute, she chuckles to herself. She gets up from her desk and walks over to him

Michelle: "Tony, are you ok? You seem so... absent today."

Tony: "I'm fine. Look, just because there's no terrorist threat today doesn't mean that we can sit back and relax. There's work to be done!" Tony looks up at the same time he pounds his fist on his desk and realizes he has been shouting. All eyes are on him. "Sometimes it's like trying to rescue a sinking ship around here!" Numbly, he finds his way to the men's room, the only place for peace and quiet.

Michelle is totally baffled at this reply. This roughness about Tony, it was not like him at all. At least, not normally. In fact, it was a new thing that had developed in the last few months. It takes her a few seconds, but as he walks away to the men's room, she takes a deep breath and turns to the paper shufflers around her.

Michelle: "Okay, the show is over. Everybody back to work..."

Then she glances upstairs. Mason witnessed the entire scene. Of course he did. And he's going to want to know what's happening with Tony. She quickly looks away again and goes back to her desk, sitting down and returning to her work.

**Bauer house** .

It's still dark inside, the shutters are down. The house seems unlived-in. There is a KEEP OUT! sign on Kim's door.

We take a look in Jack's bedroom. He's in bed, fully dressed, sleeping. A framed photograph lies on the pillow next to him, he's holding it. Between his fingers, we can make out the face of his late wife Teri on the photograph.

**The townhouse of the Attorney General, Peter Mills** .

The AG is getting ready for another Monday at work. His wife and children are already in the kitchen, his breakfast is waiting. He's in a good mood, he had spent most of the weekend making last changes on a new legislation and he was going to present it today. It would make it easier for the Government to get their hands on the many culprits who were scheming against the country. It would allow doing more against them and getting results faster. There was no doubt about it, it would pass. He puts on his tie and walks into the kitchen, heartily greeting his family. Then he sits down at the table and pours himself a cup of coffee.

**CTU **

From his desk above the CTU floor George has just witnessed Tony's outburst. He knows full well what's wrong with Tony, it's the same feeling he himself has been having, but in their position they have very little choice, orders from above mean that they have to do what they're told, regardless of how they feel about it.

Michelle suddenly stops typing. "This can't be!", she's thinking. They've got an intruder in the system. Somebody has been stealing data during the night. No wonder Tony lost the backup. She makes a few clicks and punches in some codes until she's secured the system again. Then she looks around, still no sign of Tony, so she calls up George. "We've had an intruder in the system. I've blocked them out and I'm going to update the security but I don't know how much data was stolen. Do you wanna run this by Division?"

George sighs to himself, thinking, _Great. That's all I need, Division hassling me about security on top of everything else!_ to Michelle: "See if you can find out what was taken first. I'd rather not bring in the guys across the freeway until we have to."

Michelle: "OK. I'll let you know as soon as I find out." , she answers and hangs up the phone. She is feeling observed, but as she looks around, she notices nothing suspicious. _I can't believe I'm still paranoid about our staff_ , she's thinking. "Everything's alright. Pull yourself together, Michelle.", she says to herself and with a sigh, goes back to work.

** Somewhere in the city **

A man is sitting in a car, driving downtown. He's whistling to a song on the radio. Next to him on the passenger's seat lies a bag from which the tip of a rifle barrel is protruding.

**CTU bathroom **

Tony stands by the sink, leaning on the wall, his face in his hands. He'd been told to talk to someone. No one would or could ever understand. But now, as he looks at himself in the mirror, he thinks talking may be better than holding it all in. What good is working non-stop in an attempt to clear your mind when you just keep going back to the scene of the crime? Tony splashes water on his face and walks back to his desk. Except he makes a stop one desk over. "Hey," it appears he has startled Michelle, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Michelle looks up: "Don't worry about it, it's alright, we're all still a bit tense...", she pauses, but she is glad he's come to make amends. "Listen Tony, we have a bigger problem right now. The data we lost last night, they didn't just take a walk. We had unauthorized access, somebody's been stealing data and I can't figure out who."

The words ring warning bells in his head. Not again. Not something out of this office... "Maybe it's just a glitch. Sometimes the tech's have to reroute the data because of new security codes." Tony types in an access code that should bring up all out-lying sources that have tapped into the system in the last twelve to fourteen hours.

"Okay, look, there." He points to a row of numbers popping up. "That sequence doesn't match CTU's. Our tech's don't have zeros in the first three digits. We need to run a trace but I don't think that's going to work. We'll need to see if we can figure out how it crawled in in the first place."

"Right.", Michelle answers to Tony. _Oh, this is not going to be one of those days again, is it?_, she's thinking. The security - her job. This intruder - her mistake, obviously. This morning was not going well. Not well at all. "OK, Tony, I'll try to track it down, at least I'll give it a try."

**somewhere**

Meanwhile, while Jack was at home, Kim Bauer was not where her father thought she would be. Nor did she ever have any intention of going back to school.

"What's Daddy up to these days?"

Kim shrugged her shoulders as the question was tossed at her again. She was used to her friends making fun of her dad. She didn't like it but they gave her a ride anywhere, what could she do? "Wasting away as usual. Where to today?"

"Riverside. Thought we'd go shopping." Tammy shook her stringy hair as she smiled. "We'll meet Kelly there."

"Sounds good. Let's get going." Kim couldn't wait to get her mind off of everything.

**somewhere else**

The man in the car pulls up in front of a building, takes his bag out and unlocks the gate surrounding the house, then walks in and takes the elevator to the top floor.

**CTU  
**Tony decided keeping George out of the loop on this newest security breach might be a good thing for now. He sends a quick set of data to George's system to keep him satisfied for awhile then pulls Michelle off her workstation and down a corridor. "Michelle, this should probably stay between us for now, okay?"

Michelle pauses for a second before she answers. She knows she's probably going to cause Tony to lose his temper again, but she needs to say what she thinks. 

Michelle: "What do you mean, keep George out of this? I don't know about that, he's gonna want information, I mean he already knows about the data being lost. He's not involving Division for now, but he needs to know what we know."

Even though we know next to nothing at this point, she admits to herself.

Tony crosses his arms. Michelle was right but after all that had transpired, he feels this should be their course of action. "I'll take the fall for this one. It's just a gut feeling but I don't think George needs to have reason to lock down CTU again. We need as much access to our inner systems for as long as possible. Last time...it was a total disaster." He tried a smile, maybe it would work. "I need to make a phone call."

**Peter Mills' townhouse **  
The AG gets up from the table. "Alright, now. Be good, boys. Do as your Mommy says.", he says, as he gives his kids a quick tap on the head. The boys answer "Bye Daddy!" and continue eating their cereals. Peter kisses his wife goodbye, "See you tonight." "Good luck, Peter.", Helen answers. Then he walks out of the kitchen, grabs his briefcase and his car keys. "Bye!", he calls again, as he goes out the front door and starts walking the few steps towards the garage.

Suddenly, a bullet hits him right between the eyes. He collapses, hitting the ground. Somebody shouts "Call an ambulance!" Helen, followed by her boys, comes running out of the house and seeing Peter dead, screams in shock, unable to move. The previously unmentioned Nanny ushers the kids back inside the house, to spare them the sight. More people stop to see what's happening. In the panic that follows, a woman takes Mills' briefcase and slowly walks away with it.

The sniper disassembles his rifle and puts the parts back into the bag. He closes the window, walks past a dead woman with a bullet in her temple, and cautiously walks out of the top-floor apartment, into the corridor and takes the elevator down. In his car, as he drives away, he takes out his cell phone, dials a number and curtly says "It's done."

**another car**

Tammy leaves Kim in the car, as she stops at a remote corner, and gets out. She meets someone, and Kim can see her exchanging something with the person before she turns around and comes back to the car.

"Did you just buy drugs?", Kim asks, shocked.

"Oh come on, don't you play little Miss Perfect here. If you wanna keep getting these free rides out of school, you'll keep your mouth shut, got it?", Tammy turns on the engine and drives off.

**CTU**

Tony slipped into an interrogation room and shut the door behind him. The number he dialed was one he wasn't sure he should have. When the answering machine picked up, he was certain he had made a mistake. He didn't bother leaving a message on Jack's machine.

_Okay, Tony, we'll play this your way_, Michelle thinks as she walks back to her desk. He was right, after all. All that Division would do is send someone over and lock them down again. They really didn't need that. She looks up to the upper-floor office. George, for once, doesn't seem to observe them. As she looks at her screen, she notices the trace is finished.  
**trace completed. no location detected.**, a pop-up window informs her. "Figured as much." she says, as she's about to switch to another program to try a different approach, when a code catches her attention. Entering it in a different mask gives her a name:

**Almeida, Tony**. 

"What?" , Michelle can't believe her eyes. _No, no, no, Tony is clean, he has to be._ Why would he be stealing data in such a clumsy way and then let her trace it back to him, she says to herself, but nevertheless feels her pulse rising as she sees him coming out of the interrogation room. Who did he call? Can she trust him? _Of course you can trust him. It's Tony, for goodness sake! Somebody from the outside hacked in and somehow found out his security code, for sure. Tony has got nothing to do with this._ Her thoughts are racing away as she quickly switches to a different window and smiles at him nervously while he approaches her on the way to his desk. Did he notice her uneasiness? She found it hard to lie to Tony, she wouldn't know what to say to him at this moment, apart from the truth.

"Hey, I just wanted to thank you for helping out on this. I know it's not easy." Tony easily let the words come out. It was true. He'd been in her place before. "Anything yet? Might as well check while I'm here." He takes a look at her screen. "Sometimes there are routing issues that make the traces hit bumps in the road. We just need to be careful is all I'm saying."

"No, it's alright, Tony, I can handle this.", Michelle quickly replies, in an effort to keep him away from her keyboard, "The trace is finished, the system showed nothing. I'm gonna try the unconventional route. I'll let you know if something pops up, okay?", she says, hoping her answer will satisfy him for the time being. She needs a chance to find out for sure what's going on.

The phone in George's - well, Jack's actually - office rings. He is informed that the Attorney General has been assassinated and sensitive documents disappeared, including the new Legislation and a disc with the newest data on the most wanted terrorists.

**not far from the residence**

The mystery woman gets into a limousine a couple of blocks away. The car drives off. She hands the briefcase she took off the AG to an older man in the back seat. "Thank you", he says. "You've been very helpful". He reaches over to her side and gives her a hug, then with a sudden movement, breaks her neck. As the car passes a deserted area, he opens the back door and pushes her body out onto the roadside.

**Tammy's car**

"Pull over!" Kim's had it. They aren't going to the mall anytime soon and she's sick of Tammy's driving. She'd rather be on her own today, anyway. It's been a bad week. "Let me out!"

"What's the matter, sweetie? Don't like coke? I know all about your little weed habit, so don't go getting on my back about how drugs are bad for you." Tammy jerks to a stop fast enough to send Kim to the side of the car and giving Tammy the chance to slip the coke into Kim's open purse.

"Forget it," Kim jumps from the car, "I'll get a cab!"

"You'll get more than that!" And Tammy cannot wait until Kim gets hers, that little goody two shoes.

Kim holds her purse tightly and watches her ride speed away. Now what? She's alone in a bad part of town. Great. _Guess it's time to start walking._

**CTU**

George reads through the information he's been sent on the data that's been stolen. "Great, all we need; a faulty network and a missing briefcase full of intel. Could be a long one today." He sends a priority call to Division asking who the suspects are.

**Bauer house**

Jack wakes up, and slowly sits up in his bed. He carefully picks up the photo of Teri from the pillow and sits there, sadly staring at it.

After a while, he gets up and walks out of the bedroom, and into Kim's room. Finding that she left to school (or so he thinks), he turns to leave, when the tip of a tiny plastic bag in a slightly open drawer catches his eye. He takes it out, it's weed and some pills. "Great. On top of everything.".

They should have talked about Teri's death. They were both so wretched, but never managed to put their feelings into words. Well, apart from Kim letting him know on every occasion that she's holding him responsible for her mom's death - which, in the essence, he had to agree with. And now Kim was looking for the answers in drugs. He should have seen it coming, but he was too busy dealing with his own grief. "We're gonna have to talk when she comes back.", he decides and puts the bag back where he found it, closing the drawer. He walks towards the kitchen, passing by the phone. The light on the answering machine blinks but when he pushes the button to listen to the message, all he gets is a BEEP.

**A private jet**

A man in a leather seat picks up the phone. He's wearing a dark suit and his neck reveals a tattoo that reads _Grace_ . "Are we secure?"

"Yes, it's rerouted.", a faceless employee answers.

The man in the suit dials an L.A. number.

**CTU**

"Tony, call for you on line 4."

Tony stared at Andre. Line 4 wasn't blinking but that's not what caught him off guard. That line was the international line left open for overseas needs. No one had that number and no one called unless it was an emergency. He picked up the phone hesitatingly, "CTU Almeida."

"Mr. Almeida, right now you are in the midst of a potential crisis. However, you have no idea just how bad it is going to get today. Keep a good head on your shoulder and your cell phone available at all times. We'll be in touch."

The call ended and Tony had no doubt it would be untraceable. He stole a glance at Michelle before heading to the IT room to take the chance he could get some lock on it before it funneled out of the system.

He was going to need help on this one. Tony knew he could trust Michelle, call it a gut instinct. He would just have to tell her everything. That and apologize ten times over for being a pain in the neck.

"Michelle, if you have a minute..." He stops abruptly as he comes to her workstation. She has pulled up his phone and email logs for the last week. "Are you checking up on me?" Tony's arms are crossed, his stance is defensive. Has he caught her being overly cautious or has he caught her trying to access something she shouldn't?

"Tony... Er... ", Michelle was caught by surprise,_ Why didn't I see him coming?_ She's nervous. _An excuse, fast! Think, Michelle, think. _"No, I wasn't checking up on you, I.. I mean, not only you. George wanted me to check everybody's outgoing communication of the last few days. You know, make sure everything is under control."

"Uh-huh,", Tony utters. _Michelle's a bad liar. It's a wonder she got a job like this. _"If you're really that interested in what I've been doing, just ask. You're going to find that I've contacted the federal prison where Nina's being held. Am I in contact with her or am I making sure they have her securely shackled? Guess we'll never know." Tony flips off the power switch to Michelle's computer. "Andre, Michelle's going to be busy backing up her files today. Can I get your help in the IT room?"

Andre, CTU's newest recruit in a long line of techies, runs to Tony's side. "The IT room? Did you get a line surge? We've been getting error messages lately. That may be to blame for the data being lost." He saw Tony's expression turn sour. "Sorry, I kind of overheard..."

"That's okay. No, it's not a line surge. I need a trace on a phone call but I need it your eyes only, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Andre nods, takes the information, and heads for IT while Tony checks the latest intel that hopefully has come in.

Michelle watches Andre walk off. _Great, now I've messed things up with Tony. Like there's not enough problems already... But I need to get the information. I have to know who to trust. _

Then she remembers something and turns away from her desk, walking towards the IT. There's an empty office there from where she could get the necessary access without Tony seeing her.

**In the black limo **

The disc has been decoded. The man in the backseat opens up a few files, and seeing that it's working, closes them again and starts copying files to the hard drive. When it's done, he puts the disc in an envelope and slips it into the inner pocket of his jacket. He takes out his cell and dials a number.

"The package has arrived. When can we meet?... Understood." to the driver: "You have 20 minutes. Get us there."

**CTU**

He's making it harder on himself but he's sick of always being watched, always being looked at. Just because he dated Nina doesn't mean that he was involved with her operation. And now Michelle, of all people, is looking in on him? If she digs too far, she will find his sources and they're the only sources he's got.

Enough wallowing in self-pity. Tony logs into his email then goes online to check the AP news reports. He is stunned by the bulletin he's reading. It's not possible but it is...

"Okay, listen up people." Tony turns on the big screen TV (for lack of a better term) and uploads the report for everyone to see. "We've got a level 3 event. Attorney General Peter Mills has been assassinated at his home. Now, he was scheduled to present a new legislation to the Government today, we have to find out how this was connected to his assassination. We need to get a CSI team over to the scene immediately. Miranda will coordinate with the local law enforcement on that issue. Michelle, see what you can learn about the AG's and his wife's activities in the last 48 hours. Eventually we'll have to talk to the family, too. Okay, the rest of you know what to do. MOVE!"

**08:59:57 --- 08:59:58 --- 08:59:59 --- 09:00:00**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All characters belong to FOX. This is just for fun   
The following takes place between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. 

**09:00:01 --- 09:00:02 --- 09:00:03--- 09:00:04 **

**CTU **

Michelle stops in her tracks when she hears Tony shouting out the news. She turns back immediately and walks over to her desk. There were more important issues to deal with than what she was after. She sits down, glancing at Tony. He's all busy already. The little argument from before doesn't seem to matter anymore. She turns on her computer again and starts doing her job.

**The AG's residence **

Two CSIs already at the crime scene...

"CSI Rick Danber and this is my partner Sally. Can you point us to the scene of the shooting please."

Nothing had been touched since the moments a while ago. Scouring the scene for anything they could find that could help them.

"... pass me a bag, I think I've found something. Pincers please."

He found a small shred of fiber. "Mmm interesting".

"Yeah, that's interesting, Rick," Sally smacks her lips together, "'bout as interesting as the last fiber we found. Put it in the bag. Miranda will be screaming if we don't get it to her. Poor guy, probably didn't see it comin'..." She bags the fiber, places it in the kit, and steps away to look in the grass. "Rick, can I do my own thing for a teensy moment?"

"Sure, go ahead. I'll take some snapshots of the body and surrounding area. I'll call for them to pick up the body afterwards once we're finished here".

"You know, we could just pick up the body ourselves. I'm sure there's an extra tarp in the van..." Sally trails off as she notices Mills' children peeking through the window curtains. "Do you think we should call for Mick to make some plaster casts?" She places a number card by an imprint in the grass. "You know...I could swear that was made by a high heel. Hmm...okay, I'll be right back." ** CTU  
**Tony is currently downloading NSA satellite images of a five block radius around the AG's house for the last four hours and is locked into the security cameras at the house. It's a quiet neighborhood, not unlike one he would like to settle down in someday. Nice place to raise a family.

"Michelle, I'm sending a video feed from Mills' front yard security camera to your main directory. Take a look at the moment of impact and then the minutes following it." He steps over to her workstation and waits for the video feed to appear. "Watch the camera movement after the kill shot. It moves down. Someone or something has repositioned the camera so you can't see anything but Mills' face. There are shadows and a hand, I'm assuming Mrs. Mills. When he went down...there was a briefcase, right? Did I just make that up?"

Michelle: "No, I think you're right.", she says and points to the screen. "See, in this picture, it's there, but in the panic that ensues, you can't see anything any more... Wait, Miranda should be at the scene now, let's see if they found the briefcase." Tony nods OK, and she picks up the phone. "Miranda? It's Michelle. The AG had a briefcase in his hand when he was shot, did you find it?"** bad part of town **  
Two policemen in their car notice Kim walking around. She is dressed way to neatly for this neighborhood, so that she clearly looks out of place. They decide to see what she's doing there and pull up near her. She stops, one of them gets out of the car, while the other one stays in, watching the surroundings.

Officer 1: "Hello Miss. May I see your papers? Did you get lost or something? It's a pretty rough neighborhood to be walking around alone like that."

Kim eyes the officer carefully as he approaches her. "Did I do something wrong?" She clutches her purse as she pulls out her license. "Actually, um, my car broke down on the highway. I thought I could take a short cut back to my house but I just ended up here," Kim smiles nervously and waits to see just how this is going to turn out.

Officer 1: "Really? Then you must have had a long walk. You could have called help, don't you have a cell phone?", he says, smiling, as he checks her ID. "I'll be right back. Stay here.", he advises her, as he walks back to the vehicle and hands her license to the other officer, who quickly scans it and verifies it. The first officer walks back to Kim and hands the license back to her. "Okay, here you go. Do you need a ride? We could take you out of here."

**The AG's residence **

Miranda crushes out her cigarette as Michelle speaks. Sure, it's not federal agent-like, but who's going to say anything? The two CSI kids she has to watch over? "Briefcase...we've bagged several pieces of evidence but I think I'd remember a briefcase." She peers into the van just in case she's missed anything. "No, not a one, but I'll have them keep their eyes open. If it's here, we'll find it. There is one thing...Sally mentioned a shoe print in the grass looking like a woman's high heel. Guess it could be Mrs. Mills or it could be the nanny but I thought I'd mention it anyway."

**CTU   
**At about that time, a call comes in from the highway patrol and is forwarded to Tony. "Where?" He jots down the information. "No I.D. on her I guess? Okay. Yeah...thanks." This was certainly a day he could use Milo's help. "That was the highway patrol. One of their officers just found a woman's body dumped ten miles out of the city limits. She hasn't been dead long." Tony has a look of disgust on his face as he speaks to Michelle and Andre, who has returned and is now listening in. "They aren't sure if this is connected but thought we should know in case."

Michelle: "Miranda, the AG had a briefcase with him when he left the house. If it isn't there, that means that sensitive information is in the possession of someone who shouldn't have it. It is crucial that you find the briefcase. If you can't, then we may have more of a problem than we know. Oh, and Tony just tells me that the body of a woman was found outside the city. Check if anyone has seen a woman at the site after the shot, she may be a suspect in this."

Miranda: "I do crime scenes, Michelle, I don't hunt down sensitive documents that have been stolen. All I can do is have my team work with what we find. And my team is stretched thin as it is, now you want me to send a couple of kids to check out this latest body? Fine but remember I only have two hands." Just like Michelle to think she had all the time in the world to devote to dead bodies.

"Miranda, this is Tony," his voice betrays his irritation, "Do what you're told. We're all stretched thin these days but we need cooperation, got it?"

Miranda sighs. Like she wasn't going to follow orders? "I'll send Peter and Todd to your dumping ground. They've got a better handle on bodies than most of my kids."

Tony: After the call ends, he shrugs lightly. "Don't take it personally. Miranda applied for your position and we felt she didn't qualify. She's been irritated ever since."

"Ah, Tony?" Andre approaches with the information Tony was seeking earlier. "The call came from a pay phone at a gas station in Van Nuys. We'll try to get surveillance tapes from the store."

"Okay, great." Tony assigns Andre to the surveillance tapes and explains to Michelle: "The phone call earlier, no one was on the line." He wasn't quite ready to give up the information if nothing came of it. "We need to find out a little more about what Mills was working on. I may have to talk to George if he doesn't come down soon."

"Look here", Michelle says as she switches to a file she had been working on previously. "This Legislation the AG was supposed to present today, it was about giving the government much more liberty in doing whatever they need to do to apprehend terrorists quickly. It would make things legal that weren't legal before, I think you understand what I mean. I also came across something else. Yesterday, he met with a CIA agent, Michael Burton. I haven't come any further yet. Think they might have exchanged information?"

** bad part of town **  
Kim hesitates at first. Going home would mean facing her dad because she knows the officer isn't just going to let her out. But what other choice does she have?

"Yeah," she smiles a little as she steps into the car, "thanks. It'll be easier than walking all the way." What she doesn't see is the bag of coke Tammy had just purchased has now fallen out of her purse and into the car.

As the officer helps Kim get in the back seat, he notices the little bag on the floor. "Hey, hey, what's this?", he says as he picks it up. "Sure doesn't look like flour. Where did you get that?... Mick!", he calls to the other officer, who gets out of the car and, drawing his gun, urges Kim to step out of the car and put her hands on the trunk.

Mick: "You are under arrest for possession of illegal substances. You have the right to remain silent, everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to the presence of an attorney during all questioning. If you wish to have an attorney present and cannot afford one, an attorney will be appointed to you at no cost."

**in the limousine **  
The car pulls up in front of a run-down house in the woods. The driver steps out and opens the back door. The older man comes out and walks toward the house, followed by the driver. As the older man walks in, the driver stays outside and watches the surroundings.  
"Do you have it?", a man (let's call him Nick) asks from a behind a table in a dark corner of the room.  
"Yes."  
"Show me."  
The older man reaches into his inner pocket and takes out the envelope with the disc that he took from the AG's briefcase: "It's right here.", he says as he places the envelope on the table and pushes it over. The man at the table takes the disc out and feeds it into his computer, makes a few clicks and then asks: "And Mira?"  
"She's been taken care of."  
"Good. Burn the rest. And get me Bauer."  
"It's in progress.", the older man nods and leaves the house. Nick picks up the phone and dials a number.

** Mills' residence **  
The nanny's cell phone rings. She picks up and listens for a few seconds, then hangs up and goes into the AG's home office. She starts up the computer and quickly finds the draft of the Legislation. She presses the Delete key and confirms her choice, then shuts down the computer again and walks out of the room.

**CTU**

If CIA was involved, they'd have to work very carefully. Their agents didn't like to be pushed around, especially by another agency. Tony runs his hand over his face and considers the options.

"Good work."

"Thanks."

"We're going to need to keep this under the radar, okay?" He tries to get Michelle's attention and holds it. "I'll take the CIA agent, you keep working on other individuals Mills may have crossed paths with. Cross-reference with this Burton, too. And, again, don't say anything to Mason." He gives Michelle a half-smile. "If he knows we've got a lead involving another agency, he'll want to take control. So..."

Michelle pauses for a second before she replies. "Tony, I'm really not too comfortable with keeping George out of this. I mean, this is a huge thing, he needs to get involved." There's a look of strong disagreement on Tony's face as he hears her utter the words. She reconsiders: "Okay, I'll go around him. But it won't be long until he finds out himself and then we're in trouble."

**Kim and the officers:  
**"Wait! I can explain! It's not mine!" Kim's hands are cuffed behind her. She watches as the officers check her purse thoroughly. "Please, let me explain. My friend.. .she must have put it in there..."

The officer called Mick places her back in the car. It's clear she needs to keep quiet but she can't help it, she's scared. "Hey, look, my dad's at home. Just let me call him, okay? He can get me a lawyer. I have the right to one, well I'm asking for one. Just let me use the phone."

Mick taps his ear lightly, this turns on the earpiece he's wearing.

"Listen Miss Bauer, you can explain everything at the station and you'll get your phone call then. Right now, I advise you to save your words for the interrogation."

He shuts the door behind her and gets back in the car, and they drive off. On the other end of the earpiece, Nick listens and smiles to himself.

**A Phone Call To George**  
George Mason's cell phone rings. The voice on the other end is likely one he never would have expected to hear.

"George, Lisa Elliott, CTU Sacramento. Look, I'm getting word that Miranda Potter is pulling some of my CSI guys to help with an investigation that's started this morning. I'm going to go on the assumption that it has to do with the assassination of Peter Mills." Lisa pauses, "You know I can't let Peter and Todd come to LA without me. The guys are already on their way. I'll be at CTU within the hour. George... it'll be nice to see you again."

**CTU**  
"You don't have anything to worry about, Michelle." Tony's just grateful he has gotten her to cooperate again, something he never thought he would have to worry about with Michelle. "We can't do much until we receive the crime scene evidence."

"Tony, Miranda - line 1."

Tony answers and listens to Miranda's quick, excited speech. "We didn't find your briefcase. Sally's off following a trail and Rick's...well, who knows, but wait for it...Okay, Tony, I've located a metal corner piece not three feet from our vic and it has brown thread hooked on to it's broken edge. Nothing's 100 percent, but I'd guess it belongs to the missing briefcase and I'd also guess it broke off when Mills fell. Whoever took the briefcase probably didn't notice it. We can get this tested and at least try to pin down a brand we're looking for."

"That's excellent. Can you get us a picture?" Tony signals to Michelle, "Michelle, open a directory. Miranda, send the file to Michelle's system. Anything else, let us know." He waits anxiously for the file to load on Michelle's computer. "I'm not trying to keep something from George. I just know the past and how he reacts. If he knows how big this is getting, he'll take over and start giving the orders. I'd rather be reprimanded after doing my job."

Michelle thinks this through. "Alright. You're right about George. You know, I'm sure he knew about this before we did...

So this CIA agent, why do you think he'd meet with the AG in secret?"

**police car**  
Things couldn't get any worse, could they? Why did she have to go with Tammy today? School wasn't really that bad. And it wasn't like her dad would have known if she'd stayed home anyway.

"Um..." Kim still doesn't recognize where they are. "What station are you taking me to?"

"Relax, Miss Bauer. We'll be there in no time.", Mick says. The car starts leaving the city center.

**Residence**

Rick to Sally: "Ok. You go over to the apartment and take the tarpaulin. I'll be with you in a jiffy. The path of the bullet needs checking out."

"Will do." Sally nods and, weaving past Miranda, makes her way into the apartment building directly across the street from the AG's house. As she begins to walk the stairway up, it's clear something is amiss. A distinct odor has begun to collect. She lets her nose lead her to the room... "Rick, Miranda..." Sally radios to her boss and CTU's leader, "We're gonna need another body bag. I've got a female vic, approximately 40-50 years, one bullet straight through her head. And we've got shell casings. I've got a crime scene."

**CTU**  
"You suggested the agent and Mills exchanged information. It's possible that's all there was to the relationship. Once we've located Burton, we'll try to get something from him. Of course, he is CIA," Tony winked a little.

"Tony, Miranda line 1."

"Again?" Tony's forehead scrunched in question as he answered, "What have you got?"

"A dead woman across the street. I've got to get over there fast, though. I don't want to leave Sally alone for long. Just get me authorization to have these bodies autopsied by the same medical examiner, okay? Ten to one they're connected, including your dumped girl." Miranda excitedly hangs up leaving Tony to look at Michelle.

"The body count is getting higher. We've got a second dead woman now. We need to find this CIA agent and learn what's in that briefcase. There's more to the legislation than meets the eye."

Michelle: "Yeah, the reason I asked what you think is because I'm certain this whole thing can't be only about the legislation", Michelle says. "And obviously, so are you. See, this Agent Burton, I've pulled up his file. It's his job to keep all information about terrorist activities and the personal data on the suspects up to date. Maybe he came across something or someone he shouldn't have. Him meeting up with the AG can only mean this information leaked out of the CIA. And for some people, I'm sure it would be worth killing for."

**police car**

Kim doesn't like this at all. "I get the whole 'no talking' thing but...I really want to know where you're taking me. My dad, he works with CTU and he'll want to know where I am. Okay? I need to give him a call so he can pick me up."

The other officer who has been quiet so far is slightly fed up with this girl blabbing all the time. he turns around suddenly and shouts:

"SHUT UP! You'll get to talk to your daddy, little girl, when the time comes. We know who your daddy is, be sure of that. That's why we're here."

Mick turns to him: "Joey, hold your breath, man. You're gonna blow it! Kim, just a few more minutes. Do as you're told and you'll be fine."

"You know my dad?" Kim asks quietly, though the question is really rhetorical. This has all the makings of... not a good situation. She tries the door handle by backing up towards it and feeling for it with her hands cuffed behind her. It's locked. That's it! She's screaming now and banging on the window with her feet, since her hands are cuffed behind her, at the same time. "HELP! LET ME OUT!"

Mick just laughs at her irrational behavior. "You think anybody's gonna help? You're in a police car. As far as anybody's concerned, we're the authorities. Besides, nobody can hear you. Look around."

They're out of town, not much there but woods and fields. "Calm down, sweetie, you're gonna hurt yourself. We'll be right there." And having said that, he makes a turn into a small private road, leading into the woods. Shortly after that, the car pulls up where the limousine had been some minutes ago. Nick shows up at the door and stands there, smiling at their arrival.

**CTU**  
Tony mulls this over. The terrorist data was important to all agencies and it may have now been compromised. "Cross-check Burton's activities with Mills'. See if they travel the similar routes. It's time to have a chat with our boss." He glances up at George's office. "We'll see how things go."

**...a few seconds later in George's office...**

"Sorry to bother you..." Tony walks in without worrying that much. "George, we've got a situation that is getting bigger than the both of us. The Attorney General was assassinated and our manpower is stretched thin as it is. Give me some direction here."

George: "Jesus Tony, that's all I need. I've got an 'old friend' paying a visit very shortly."

Off Tony's look he continues. 

"Lisa Elliott. We... had a thing for a while, but career stuff got in the way, like me getting my ass busted down to CTU chief and getting the job that by rights should have been hers. Basically screwed everything we had going, although come to think of it, there really wasn't a lot.

What's the story with the AG. What happened? Suspects? That kind of thing."

"Miranda's team found a second body across the street in an apartment building. I picked up radio traffic and heard that shell casings had been found near the body so the sniper probably set up there. Miranda has Sally and Rick doing the evidence collection now. The highway patrol found a woman's body dumped near Van Nuys. Peter and Todd from Sacramento are heading over there. So far, though," Tony shrugged his shoulders, "no suspects. The only interesting thing is that the AG was working on terrorism legislation and his briefcase was apparently stolen - we're assuming this since it's nowhere to be found and a piece was located near the body."

Tony paused for just a second. "This Lisa Elliott...she's CTU Sacramento, right? Do they know something we should know?"

"If Lisa knows something then you can bet there'll be something she wants in return"

This job I'm betting, thought George.

"Hang on Tony. This investigation seems to be quite far on. When did the shooting happen?"

Uh oh. Here it comes.

Tony clears his throat before answering. "Um...well, I learned about it approximately oh...two hours ago. Things have been rumbling about but we had no indication an assassination was in the works."

**CSI Team**

Rick to Miranda: "I've a few fibers but nothing what you would call exciting to give us something to go on, apart from this false fingernail. Dusted it for prints, nothing...zilch."

Rick radios Sally. "We're coming over. Stay out of the room until we're there, you could be looking at some poisonous substance. You already know that but I don't want a member of my team in trouble". Rick and Miranda (with an extra body bag) crossed the street and entered the apartment's reception lobby and on up the stairs. No sign of alien footprints. Hard to as this was marble flooring.

**The floor where the woman's dead body is  
**Rick: "You've not gone too far into the room have you? You're not showing any signs of affection of any poisonous gas."

"I've been a good Girl Scout, Captain." Sally smiles briefly but motions into the room. "The shell casings. Looks like someone practiced at least once. From here I can't recognize the make."

Miranda smells trouble. Sally's good with bullets. "You two clear this up. If you can't ID the casings, I need to know a.s.a.p."

Rick to Miranda: "We'll get back to you as soon as possible" To Sally: "We'd better get this body taken to the morgue once we've bagged and tagged the bullet casings".

Sally and Rick enter the room carefully after getting the proper masks. Sally begins to examine the casings. They seem familiar, yet she can't figure out where she knows them from. "Look at the damage," she points to the wound on the woman, "The entrance wound is jagged. You would expect the bullet to have shattered from the looks of things but it didn't. The casing is nearly intact. And there's stippling from the gunpowder on her. The shot was at close range." Sally's eyes lit up, "The wound is definitely a match with the dead zone wound on the AG. Let's get her to CTU. I have an idea where this bullet's origin may be found."

Sally bags the last casing as she speaks to Rick, who's busy with his job (whatever that is, she thinks). "I prefer Division's lab and morgue, ya know? They've got pretty high-tech stuff but they don't like you touching anything." She pulls out her radio and calls for Miranda. "We're ready for transport."

Miranda radios back, "Copy. Peter and Todd will be joining us with their Van Nuys collection. We'll get the body in the van and I'll meet you guys back at CTU."

Sally and Rick accompany their vic to the van. Never leave evidence unattended.

**George's office**

Tony's conversation with George hasn't fared well so far. In fact, he thinks he's made him irritated.

"Hey, I'm sorry we kept you out of the loop on this end but... what have you got? I mean, you've got to have something. I saw you on the phone at one point. Did someone call you? Surely you knew about the shooting before we did."

"Don't you dare give me the third degree Tony. Withholding information from a superior is serious business. I could have you on a charge. However, right now some things are more important. Like for example a senior government official having been assassinated on our turf in broad daylight.

Division sent me some info about the stolen data. Cross-check it with everything on the assassination. We both know coincidences are very rare in this line of work."

Tony goes to leave, but George grabs his arm.

"You and I are in a difficult position right now, what with the investigation we're on. We're going around division and if it backfires then we're in trouble; serious trouble. So, lets start working together shall we?"

"We're all team players." Tony holds George's stare for a moment longer before heading down.

"Michelle," Tony makes his way to her desk as quickly as possible, "see if you can see which of George's directories was recently accessed by Division. He said he received information from them regarding the stolen legislation and asked that we cross-check it with what we already have."

"OK, I'll let you know as soon as I have anything."

He ran his hand across his face in an anxious manner. This situation was getting to be very complicated. If there was any field work, he would likely have to go out and then it would leave a gap in the operations.

**At Nick's Place**

Having been shown into what is obviously not the police station, Kim is now sitting in a straight-backed wooden chair anxiously watching the men across the room. They're mumbling so low she can't make out a word they're saying but it's clear they're discussing her.

She has to keep her head on straight. Her hands are still cuffed. Screaming won't do any good. All she wants is her dad, as childish as that may seem. As she feels tears begin to well in her eyes, she recalls the look that has been on her father's face since her mother's death. It's a look of being lost. What would he do if something happened to her? She regretted every moment they had lost not talking about what had happened.

"Hey...what do you want? If it's money, my dad'll pay it." Kim knows it's not that simple. She just wants to get these guys' attention.

Nick walks over to Kim, holding a gun in his hand, and with a menacing look, tells her, while lifting her chin up with the barrel. "You're gonna be a good girl now, aren't you. Don't try any tricks and you'll be fine."

It's time to put the plan into action. To Mick: "Make the call." 

** The Bauer house **  
The phone rings.

Jack considers not picking up at first, but the ringing persists. So he picks up.

"Bauer."  
Nick: "Jack. How nice to hear you. Listen up. A situation has developed in the last two hours and you are going to help me control it."  
"Who is this?"  
"Let's just say, a friend of Kim's. She didn't go to school today, Jack. Bad girl, isn't she."  
"What do you mean? Where is she?" Jack's mood immediately switches from desperate to alert. Not again. Not another villain threatening her life. NO!  
"You keep asking the wrong questions, Jack. She's right here. And she's okay. So far."  
"Let me speak to her."  
"Of course." Nick walks over to Kim and holds the phone to her ear. "It's your daddy, sweetie. Say hello."

"Dad!" Kim's voice was desperate but she didn't know how long she had, "Dad, I'm so sorry!"

Jack is relieved to hear her voice, although it's a bad situation.   
"Sweetheart, are you alright? Where are you?"

"I... I don't know. Somewhere outside the city," Kim notices the look Nick is giving her. She knows it's only a matter of time before he takes the phone. "Back in the woods. Dad, they know you. I don't know how-"

Nick snatches the phone away from her: "Okay, Jack, you heard her. She's fine."  
"If anything happens to her, I will find you and I will kill you, I swear on my wife's grave."  
"Now, now, Jack. Take it easy. If you do as I say, there won't be need for any of that."

Jack knows that there is nothing he can do at the moment but play along.

"What do you want me to do?"  
"Your friends at CTU are on a case I need you to assist them with."  
"I don't work for CTU any more. How am I supposed to help you with anything?"  
"You're a smart guy, Jack. Find a way to re-instate yourself. I'll be in touch." Nick hangs up the phone.

The phone still in hand, Jack stands with a look of horror on his face.

**09:59:57 --- 09:59:58 --- 09:59:59 --- 10:00:00**


	3. Chapter 3

**The following takes place between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.**

**10:00:00 --- 10:00:01 --- 10:00:02 --- 10:00:03**

**The Bauer house**  
"DAMMIT !" Jack shouts as he throws the phone against the wall. It shatters to pieces. This couldn't be happening. All he wanted since Teri died was to ensure his daughter's safety and now this.

But there's no time to waste. He composes himself quickly, puts on a shirt and opens a drawer to get his gun and his CTU ID from it. He hesitates as he stares at them for a moment, he never thought he'd put them to use again. Turns out it was good he only took a leave of absence instead of quitting altogether. Who knew? He grabs them, his car keys and drives off.

He's going to need a good reason to get inside CTU again. He turns on the radio to hear if anything has happened that he could use to this end.

**Nick's place**  
Nick to Kim: "You almost took it too far. But I'll let you get away with this for once. Now, we're gonna make sure you're comfortable. Mick!" Mick grabs Kim's arm and pulls her up from the chair. He starts leading her out of the house. The other guy, Joey, follows.

"He's going to kill all of us once he's got what he wants!" Kim refuses to be taken silently. "You don't have to be a part of this! Come on! How much is he paying you? A couple thousand? Is it worth your life?"

The men still aren't talking to her and, man! Mick's holding her arm tightly. "You're... hurting... me..." She wriggles as much as she can and, somehow, manages to free herself. Kim is startled but runs. The tree limbs are thick and cut her face.

"AH!" She trips, scraping her knees and falling on her shoulder. It's impossible to get any further. Mick and Joey are right behind her.

**CTU**  
The conversation with George made Tony consider a direction to look. While Michelle has been checking George's directory database, he has been cross-checking Burton's CIA files with known active or inactive terrorists. Whoever Burton had dealings with may have a vital interest in seeing Mills' legislation fail passage. And now he has just received another call from Miranda.

"Update," he's speaking to Michelle while checking files on his directories, "Miranda's bringing in the bodies and the evidence. The Sacramento CSI team is coming as well. They should be here in about 15-20 minutes."

"Okay. Can you have them scan a fingerprint of that woman they found on the highway and send it to my desktop? I can run it through the international database, see if something pops up. If we're lucky, we'll have her ID'd before they're even here."

**Nick's place**  
Mick and Joey catch up with Kim and pull her up on her feet. "What do you think you're doing?", Mick shouts to her face. "Like there's anywhere you could go. We're in the middle of nowhere, why don't you just give it up?", he yells at her. They start half walking, half pulling her back towards the house. There's another little cottage behind it. Joey unlocks and opens the door and Mick pushes Kim inside. "Stay there!", he says and turns to leave. Joey stands quietly until Mick is out of sight and back inside the main house and then Joey walks into the cottage, locking the door behind him.

**Jack's car**  
The news on the assassination is all over the radio. "That's my entry ticket.", Jack says to himself. But he's going to need help from someone he can trust. The only question is, who can he trust? He continues driving down the road but his thoughts are with Kim. What do these people want from him that made it necessary to kidnap her? All he's hoping right now is that she wouldn't get hurt. He slams his hand against the steering wheel. How could he allow this to happen!

**CTU**  
"Miranda, put me through to Peter." Tony waits to be connected. "Peter, Tony Almeida, CTU L.A. I need you to scan a set of prints from the woman you're bringing in. Send them to Michelle Dessler's directory. Yeah, thanks." He waits behind Michelle for the download. "He said there wasn't much else to do but bring in the body. No other evidence other than to take pictures of tire marks but they won't yield much."

As they wait, Tony can't help but reflect on the morning's events. "Michelle..." he ducks his head a little. It's not easy to admit when you're wrong. "I know you've heard this before but I'm sorry for this morning. The stress and everything and... I can tell you're not comfortable with me right now. The weekend was very bad for me but that doesn't give me an excuse to take it out on you and it doesn't give me an excuse to hide things. I know I can trust you. I hope I can win back your trust."

**The Cottage**  
Not again. Kim's eyes shift from left to right and all around as she searches for some place to go. "Get away from me!" She screams, still looking for anything heavy to grab. "If you do anything to me, my dad will find you and kill you! I promise he won't stop until you're dead!"

Joey glances out of the window, as if to make sure no-one is listening and then stops close to her. "Kim, don't worry. I won't hurt you." He pauses. "I'm a federal agent. I'm working undercover with this scum here. I'll make sure you'll be okay. Alright? I promise you, you can trust me."

A federal agent? Kim isn't sure about this. "Why should I trust you? You could be saying anything just to get me to cooperate." She continues backing away from him, but finds herself nearing the edge of the room. There's nowhere else to go. "Okay... so you're a federal agent. Help me get out of here."

Joey shakes his head no. "I can't right now... Kim, I assure you. What I'm saying is true. I'm with the FBI, we've been after these guys for a year now. I can't let you out now without blowing my disguise, but trust me, I'll watch over you. I'm sorry about before in the car, but these guys don't trust anyone easily, I had to play the game... Here, let me uncuff you.", he takes the keys from his pocket and stands waiting for her reply.

**CTU**  
Michelle answers after thinking for a moment: "Yeah, well... We're okay Tony. We need to focus on the work, right?", she smiles at him. The download finishes. "There it is. I'm gonna run the prints through IAFIS and cross-check with what Interpol has. This is gonna take a few minutes."

Michelle's words don't sound too convincing to Tony's ears. But he has no time to reply because Andre interrupts.

"Tony, I'm getting word from CTU Sacramento that one of their field op team leaders is on their way up here." Andre has a look of question on his face. "Did we ask for help from Sacramento?"

Tony rolls his eyes. "Great... I'll deal with it. We could use the extra manpower, though. Might be a blessing in disguise." Tony sighs, "Andre, let security know to alert me when the person arrives."

Michelle has already gotten some results. "Tony, I've got something. This woman's name is Mira Vlasnik. She's Bulgarian and wanted by the Interpol."

"Vlasnik..." Tony cross-checks the name with Burton's CIA file. "Yeah, she's here. Burton tracked her for five years in Eastern Europe before declaring her presumed dead. Heh, guess no one's presumed dead these days. Okay, so we've got a Bulgarian connection. You're working Mills' connection with Burton, right? Check to see if he has any dealings with the Bulgarians - any reason why this Mira Vlasnik would cross his path."

**The Cottage**  
Kim complies, if only to free her hands and give her a little leverage. "The coke isn't mine." Sounds stupid coming out of her mouth but she figures if he really is FBI she should get that part cleared up immediately.

Joey can't help but chuckle as he's taking the cuffs off her: "Nobody's gonna know about the coke as long as it's really not yours. Don't worry about it."

"What do they want? How do they know my dad?"

He takes a step back and takes a bottle of water from his jacket, handing it to Kim. "Here, you'll need this." She takes it, and he is serious again:

"Listen, this is all a part of an ongoing investigation, you'll understand I can't tell you anything or I'll be compromising my mission. They have something big going on, that much you should know. This place will be filling up shortly, I'll see if I can get you out of here while they're distracted. In the meantime, take this." he hands her a small hand weapon. "Hide it and don't use it unless you absolutely have to, they'll figure out who gave it to you."

Kim takes the weapon quickly and unhesitatingly. She feels a little better as she slips it into her pocket and then takes a quick sip from the water bottle. "I won't give you away, don't worry." The cottage is sparsely furnished but she finds a chair and sits down, her legs shaking underneath her. "Try to keep Mick away from me, he scares me."

Joey: "That could be hard, he's Nick's cousin, they trust each other completely. If he sends anyone down here to get you, it's gonna be Mick. But I'll try to be there with him." He glances out of the window again. "I have to go. Don't try any tricks, it'd just get you hurt, these guys aren't joking, ok?"

Kim nods, "Okay." She's been through this before. Play it until it's too bad to play anymore. Maybe. If there's a chance, she'll take it. "Look, don't do anything to get yourself into trouble. I need as much help as possible. They'll be looking for you."

Joey: "Don't worry.", he unlocks the door and goes out, locking it behind him again.

**Jack's car**  
The car is waiting at the traffic light opposite the CTU building. Jack is staring at the entrance, he will soon have to face the people he had been avoiding for so long. This shouldn't be happening. The light turns green and he drives into the garage.

Dave, the CTU parking lot attendant, recognizes him and lets him in, although he isn't sure Jack should actually be here. But who is he to decide? The guys upstairs make the calls.

Jack parks in a visitor's parking place. He sighs and leans his forehead on the steering wheel for a few seconds to compose himself. Then, he lifts his head up again, and with a determined look on his face, he takes a deep breath and gets out of the car. Let the games begin., he thinks to himself while he walks up the stairs to the main floor.

**CTU main office**  
"Tony, I think there might be something here-" Michelle is startled and stops talking as she sees Jack coming into the office. "What is Jack doing here?"

"I don't know." But he is going to find out. With determination, Tony strides up to Jack and blocks his path. "Hey, if you haven't heard, today's kind of busy. Whatever's on your mind can wait, okay? Want me to walk you to your car?"

Jack: "Yeah and good to see you too." Jack says sarcastically, holding his stare. "Tony, don't do this. You know as well as I do that you can use any help you can get."

"Jack, go home. We didn't call you to come in but if we need your help, we know where to find you." Tony motioned for a couple security guards. "Now, let's not make this difficult. Go home. Spend time with Kim. You can come back in a few months. There'll always be something to do."

_Kim_. Jack's heart stings when he hears Tony utter her name. It would be so easy to just tell him what this is about but that's not an option. All those people watching and listening, any one of them could be a mole. He can't take that chance. "Tony, this is not really your call. I'm still employed by CTU and I choose to return to work, effective immediately."

Andre, who once again has answered Tony's phone, passes a message to Michelle. "Sacramento says their operatives are stuck in traffic but should be here in a few minutes."

Michelle takes note of Andre's input only marginally and nods absently. She watches as the tension between Jack and Tony builds up. Before this turns into a brawl, she decides to intervene and walks up to Tony, slightly touching his arm: "Tony, let go. He's right."

Tony stares Jack down for a second longer. "Yeah. Welcome back." 

Andre grabs Tony as he's returning back to his workstation. "Sacramento's on site."

"What?", Tony barks, his eyes still on Jack, who is now walking away from him.

"The field ops team? They're here."

Take a deep breath, Tony reminds himself. "Fine. Michelle, keep an eye on Jack. Make sure he doesn't do anything like talk to anyone. Don't let George see him. I've got to go meet the team from Sacramento."

As he walks towards the exit, Tony sends another look Jack's way. They never had a chance to talk. He never had a chance to apologize. Doesn't look like today's the day.

George, who has spotted Jack from his office, walks down to the main floor. 

"Jack. What are you doing here? You having been taken off active duty and retired from CTU means exactly that. Go home, we're busy today."

He notices the Sacramento team arriving. Here we go. Hell hath no fury and all that. Oh well, George, time to face the music, or at least try and give as good as you get.

"Tony, any luck with the suspect list? Tell me there is, because I don't want to look stupid in front of Lisa. Not again anyway."

The Sacramento team gives Jack the moment he needs to disappear from George's sight for a while and slip into his former office. He closes the shutters and starts looking for anything to point him in the right direction. Who were these guys who were holding Kim? And what would they want from him? He'd have to know what CTU knows before they contacted him again.

Michelle notices Jack's excursion to Mason's office, but keeps her mouth shut. She'd heard about this man. Whatever Jack was doing, he was likely to have a good reason to do.

Tony stops what he's doing to give George a look of 'are you kidding me'.

"Michelle's cross-checking the information we have on Mills with a CIA agent he's had dealings with. So far, we've got one name - Mira Vlasnik, the dead woman dumped off the highway. She's a Bulgarian national wanted by Interpol. Michelle is still working up any possible connection to Mills. That's all we've got so far." He lowers his voice slightly. "Look, George, we won't let you look stupid. We've got your back today."

"It's good to see cooperation amongst coworkers.", George replies.

Tony turns at the voice to see a smartly dressed woman, black hair pulled up in a ponytail. A man is standing behind her carrying bags. She smiles and holds out her hand. "Lisa Elliott, CTU Sacramento Field Ops Supervisor. This is Kevin Donnelly."

Tony shoots a glance at George, "Tony Almeida. We've been expecting you..." They shake hands.

"I'm sure you have," Lisa smiles brightly, "Hello, George. Well, where do you want us? I don't go anywhere without Kevin. My title is Field Ops Supervisor but really it means I coordinate Kevin's team from behind a desk. Which I hate, but you know that already." It's obvious she's talking to George.

Uh oh. The look on George's face is not good., Tony notices.

"So," Lisa is being very friendly, "we might as well get started. I've been in contact with Miranda" - this is news to Tony - "and she sent me a picture of the bullet casing found at one of the crime scenes. I've seen it before but I'll need your files to find what I'm looking for. Is there anything else I should know? Suspects? Names?"

**George's office**

Jack is in George's office, thinking about who at CTU he can call to help him out. Obviously, George and Tony are out of the question. He looks around. As he slipped into George's office, he'd noticed Michelle Dessler watching him. But she didn't say anything to anyone. Jack immediately gets the feeling that he can trust her. He looks up her number on George's phone and then takes out his cell phone and calls her. She picks up.

"CTU, Dessler."  
"Michelle, this is Jack Bauer. Is this a secure line?"  
"Wait, I'll transfer it... Okay. Jack, what are you doing here? Mason can't wait to throw you out. He..."  
"Michelle, you trust me, don't you?", Jack interrupts her.  
"Yes", she answers instantly. There was no reason not to.  
"Alright. I need your help. And you can't let anyone know."  
"Okay.", Michelle answers and then just listens for several seconds. Then she hangs up the phone.

**CTU main office**

"Yeah being in a job you don't like is a pain in the ass, ain't it?", George says to Lisa. "We've cleared one of our IT rooms for your team to set themselves up. It's not exactly the penthouse at the Ritz but you should have everything you need. If not, don't hesitate to ask. Which I'm sure you won't."

He smiles at her, but there's no humor in it. "Our intel is still being processed, but technically you report everything to us, since we're the larger branch and the investigation is on our patch. So why don't you and Tony sit down and you can show him everything you've found."

Lisa looks as if she's about to process but doesn't. One- nil, thinks George.

Michelle calls Jack back: "There's an empty office just down the corridor, E.22.1. The code is 2461. You have clearance for all levels again. Good luck."

"Thanks.", he hangs up and opens the shutters again (gotta leave everything as it was, right?), then sneaks out of George's office and into a corridor. He glances at Michelle thankfully before disappearing from her sight.

**CTU main office**

The tension in the air is palpable and makes Tony quite uncomfortable. Kevin, however, was prepared for this. "I'll bring up our database so we can begin coordinating resources. The main files we'll need will only take a few seconds to pull up. Lisa?" he waits a beat. She doesn't answer which causes him to glance up.

Lisa is almost in attack mode. Kevin can tell she's trying to keep her cool but he's seen this before when she has been challenged by the boss back home.

"You know, George, I could really use some coffee. You do remember how I like it, right?", Lisa states, not moving her eyes from George.

Tony is watching the showdown from the hallway but catches Michelle out of the corner of his eye. He strides up to her quickly. "Sacramento's here," he nods in Lisa and Kevin's direction. "Where'd Jack go? I asked you to keep an eye on him."

Michelle, who is now more composed than she had ever been this morning, looks up from the keyboard and straight into Tony's eyes. "He went home. That's what you wanted, right?" She doesn't move a muscle as she tells him this.

Tony is shocked. "Jack left? Just like that?" His arms folded, Tony gives Michelle a questioning look then glances around more than once. "And you wouldn't be protecting him, would you?"

"Of course not." Michelle is unimpressed. "Are you interrogating me?" She gives him a cold stare that says we've got better work to do than fight each other.

**Nick's place**  
Several vans pull up at the premises around the house. Nick comes out and greets some of the men.  
"Are we on schedule?", he asks one of the newly arrived.  
"Like a clockwork.", the other one replies.  
Nick is contented and smiles to himself. This is going to be one successful operation.

**The Cottage**  
The snapping of twigs in the distance catches Kim's attention and pulls her from the pathetic bathroom where she's been washing the dirt off her legs. Cars. She can hear more than one and smell the fumes. Are those voices?

Her hand instinctively falls to the gun Joey handed her. She would use it if she had to but if there was more than one or two...

Kim takes refuge in a corner and waits, the gun out of sight.

**Jack in the empty office**  
Jack is browsing through the files Michelle sent him. "Mira Vlasnik," that name doesn't really ring a bell, but something about this whole thing sounds familiar. He continues searching.

**CTU main office**  
"We have a lot of stuff on our plate today, Michelle. I wouldn't want anything interfering with the investigation of a prominent political leader's death." No reaction. Tony rolls his eyes. He's giving in. For now. "I need to know what you have on Mira Vlasnik - her contacts, what she's wanted for, that sort of thing. This woman," he motions behind him, "Lisa Elliott, she and George - well, surmise what you like but suffice it to say he got the job here that she was supposed to have, so we'll be dealing with that while she's here. We won't have a problem working with her but George..."

George: "Yeah. I remember. Thankfully, executive perks means I don't have to make it." He motions to one of the paper-shufflers and tells them to do it.

Lisa chuckles, "Well, I can see I'm lucky I didn't waste my life." She doesn't bother smiling this time, instead she returns to her laptop and begins organizing the files she'll need to share with Tony.

Kevin takes the coffee from George's minion and leaves it near Lisa. He knows she won't be drinking it. "Thanks for your help," he nods to George, "I'll coordinate -"

"Now don't send George away. I'm sure he wants to be in the know. You're welcome to stay." Lisa motions to a chair near her. "We could talk about old times or catch up."

"We'll manage.", Michelle smiles as honestly as she can as she says this. The tension seems gone. If she's ever going to make him trust her again, now is the time. She decides to accept his apology from earlier, she could probably use his help somewhere down the line. "Tony, about this morning. Things have been happening so fast and I know I probably overreacted. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Tony glances back at George. Talk about tension. "I think it's time to earn points with the boss." 

Tony's in rescue mode. "Lisa," he's talking to her but he briefly glances at George, "we need to start going over the information you have on the bullet casings."

Good play, she thinks, save the boss, save yourself. "The casings are foreign made, Eastern European." Lisa flips her laptop around so Tony can see the model she's brought up. "Here's an original and here's your casing." She pulls the pictures together. "They're a match. The brand is Mocktav. It's primarily used by Chechan rebels, however we have just recently been seeing an influx of these entering the black market, but this is the first time I've come across the Mocktav on American soil."

"That fits with the information Michelle came up with earlier. One female victim was Bulgarian. Alright, we'll start looking into Eastern European terrorist groups. You're set up here..."

Lisa smiles, "Kevin and I will stay back here. It's cozy and out of the way. But I would like to meet Michelle. If she's working this operation, I should probably know her."

"Okay." Tony lets Lisa exit first.

"Michelle, this is Lisa Elliott, CTU Sacramento. Lisa, Michelle Dessler."

Michelle: "Nice to meet you. We really appreciate your help today."

"Same here. Ah, Tony? I'm going to get back to Kevin. I don't like to leave him alone for too long." Lisa is already heading back to 'her' office before Tony can say anything.

"Yeah, okay. Michelle, I need to stay with Lisa for a little longer. If anything comes in, let me know." A quick smile and Tony is gone.

**Jack in the empty office**  
On the phone: "Michelle, it's Jack. Can you talk?"

Michelle glances around: "Not really."

"Okay, then just listen. I've been going through the files you sent me. This woman whose body the highway patrol found, Mira Vlasnik, I've cross-checked her name with some of my old files. Her name came up in connection with two former Russian mob head men, Michail und Nikolay Petrov. Ten years ago, they were starting to expand their circle to all of Eastern Europe. When the Bulgarian Government tried to break the ring, they had the Bulgarian President assassinated and some very sensitive documents disappeared. Sound familiar?"

It does. Too much so. "Yeah"

"Well, our Government sent out a secret operation to take them out. It failed. And nobody has been able to track them down until today. "

"And you think they might have a hand in this?"

"Yes. And they're likely to have big plans."

Michelle says nothing. This needs to get to Tony and George immediately. But she can't tell them how she knows.

"Michelle... I have to stay on this. I'm gonna need George to stay off my toes. "

"I'll talk to Tony. " She looks around but doesn't see him. She's gonna look for him immediately.

"Okay."

"Jack, one more thing. They've got a Lisa Elliott from CTU Sacramento to help us out. Just thought you should know."

"Good. Thanks.", he hangs up the phone. At least that was good news. Lisa was someone he could trust. But her presence here, it could only mean this was getting too big for George to handle on his own.

Michelle gets up from her desk and goes out to find Tony.

**another CTU office**

"The Chechen's aren't a problem for us. They pretty much stay on their own turf." Lisa is working on bringing up the latest intel on Eastern Europe's most wanted. "The problem is going to be so many terrorists, so little time. We need more to go on and, frankly Tony, I've got nothing unless you have something."

Tony shakes his head in frustration. "Other than the name I gave you, no."

"That does us no good. The woman's dead."

"Yeah, I get that..." He glances behind him to see Michelle lingering in the doorway, "Just a minute. What's up, Michelle?"

"Tony, I need to talk to you in private."

Tony leads Michelle to an empty room a few doors down. "What's up?" He has a sneaking suspicion but he'll let her speak first.

Michelle pauses for a second before she answers. "Tony, there's been a development." She's going to give him a piece of the news first. "This Mira Vlasnik might have had a connection to the Russian mob and two of their former head men could be involved in what happened here today." She raises her voice at the end of the sentence, it's clear she didn't say everything yet. But she waits for his reaction.

**the cottage**  
Joey unlocks the door and walks in. He spots Kim in a corner of the room. "Are you okay? Something happen?"

"I heard cars." Kim stands up slowly. "Who's here now? What's going on?"

Joey: "They've got company arriving." Before he can say more, he hears footsteps behind him.

"Joey! Mick needs you at the house. Now.", somebody shouts. Joey turns around: "Be right there, Pat.", he answers and motions to close the door again.

"No, leave it open", Pat says. Joey does as told and leaves towards the main house. Pat stands in the doorframe for a few seconds, staring down at Kim. "Look who's here...", he says mockingly, obviously thinking about his next move. Kim stands there, frightened, wishing Joey wouldn't go.

**Jack in the empty office**  
Jack's cell phone rings. He picks up immediately, suspecting who the caller is.  
"Hello Jack."

It's Nick.

**10:59:57 --- 10:59:58 --- 10:59:59 --- 11:00:00**


	4. Chapter 4

disclaimer: All characters belong to FOX. This is just for fun

**The following takes place between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.**

**11:00:01 --- 11:00:02 --- 11:00:03 --- 11:00:04**

**CTU, office where Jack is**  
Still with the phone to his ear, Jack shuts down the computer, opens the door of the office and starts walking down the hall, to the bathroom. "I'm there. What now?"  
Nick: "There's a box underneath the sink."

Jack kneels down and reaches under the sink, finding the box easily. "I got it."

Nick: "Good. You're doing fine so far. Put the earpiece in your ear and say something."  
Jack does as told. "I'll kill you if you hurt Kim. Where is she?"  
Nick: "She's fine. Good boy, Jack." The phone line disconnects. Jack drops the phone into his pocket and walks out of the bathroom.

**CTU**  
George receives a phone-call and after leaving a cryptic message on Tony's desk, leaves to meet a contact.

**The Cottage**  
Kim doesn't like this one bit. But the door is open now... She glares at this new man, Pat, but says nothing. Instead, she mentally notes where her gun is and inches towards the side of the room. It could be easier to run out...

**CTU**  
Tony takes in this information. "Okay. But that's not all...is it?" He doesn't move. Michelle's going to tell him everything. Right now.

"No... I told Jack about what we're working on and he gave me names." She pauses, she won't give them up until he agrees. "In brief, he thinks these two men are hiding in the US and preparing for some kind of a big hit, because our government tried to prevent their expansion in Eastern Europe..."

Tony doesn't look very happy. He surely knows what follows. Michelle continues anyway.

"Look, I know you don't want Jack around here, but I think he can help us. I mean, he came up with this in two seconds, we've had two hours and no results. Come on, you know we could use his help."

**cottage**  
Pat moves away from the door frame, kicks the door closed and starts to slowly walk towards Kim. "Whaddaya think, shall the two of us have some fun?"

Kim backs off, but he continues approaching her. With one sudden large step, he catches up with her, and grabs her, turning her around, so he holds her from behind, pulling a knife out and putting it to her throat. "You make one sound, you never will again!"

**CTU**

Tony sighs, loud enough for Lisa to hear and look up from her work but elect not to say anything. That's all he needs, Jack hanging around when there was so much stuff left for them to deal with. But if Michelle was the go-between...

"Fine," he gives in, "But you keep your eye on him. And, if he doesn't provide anything substantial in ONE hour, he goes home." He give her a look then waves her on, "Let me talk to Jack. I know you didn't let him go home."

"I don't know where Jack is, I really don't. All I know is the information he gave me and that it's probably better to keep George away from him. Do you want me to give the names and the details to Lisa or put one of our own people on it?"

"Nah, give it to Lisa. I don't want anymore of our guys on this than necessary and Lisa's got Kevin to do her grunt work." Tony does the 'Tony scratches his face' thing. "Michelle...um..." What's the use? She is only doing what she believes is right and no one should be harassed for that. "Get the information to Lisa. I'm get an update with Andre."

**the cottage**  
No...No...NO! Adrenaline pumping and her mind racing, Kim's not about to give up now. She throws her foot back and succeeds in knocking Pat away. Even if it's for a second, it's all she needs to grab the gun Joey gave her.

Now, weapon in hand, she shakily points it at Pat from her location barely three feet away. "Come any closer and I'll shoot. I swear!" Kim's voice is shaking but her finger is on the trigger. Her life is on the line and she knows it.

"How the hell did you get that?", Pat is quite taken aback. He certainly didn't expect to find himself on that side of a barrel. "Okay, I'll drop it. Alright?", he drops the knife to the floor, but as he lets his arm fall, he pulls out his gun from the holster and points it at Kim.

"Now you drop it! Now!"

Kim doesn't budge, though she's shaking as if she could lose control any minute. And she can't help but think this would be a good time for Joey to check on her. "You won't kill me. You can't." She only hopes it's the truth. "Your boss needs me to get to my dad. He can't bargain with my dad if I'm dead. And if you kill me, what then? You actually think you'll live much longer?"

**CTU**  
As Tony makes his way to his desk, he notices a piece of paper not on there previously and then he recognizes George's handwriting. After reading the message, Tony sighs - again. Perfect. George _might_ have some information coming from a source who he's gone to meet. With a roll of his eyes he ignores his previous quest for an update and decides to check incoming and outgoing phone calls, just in case Jack has used any phones. Then he checks security cameras. Jack has to be somewhere...

And then a hit. Jack's coming out of the bathroom.

Hurriedly and after alerting security to be ready if needed, Tony rushes to the hallway he's just watched and sees Jack. Running to get in front of him, he blocks Jack's way. "Where you goin', Jack? Michelle told me you might have some information for us so why don't you stay and update our team? We could use ya."

Nick (through the earpiece): "Yeah, why don't you tell them, Jack?"

Jack lies: "I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't tell her anything."

Michelle walks back to her desk to prepare the files to give to Lisa. Passing by Tony's desk, she glances at his screen. Tony was watching the surveillance cameras. One picture shows Jack and Tony facing each other in the hallway. Tony, what are you doing, she sighs. She should have told him everything from the start. She has to stop this before chaos ensues. Michelle dials Tony's number and hopes he'll pick up before he says something that could hurt Kim. Tony's phone rings. A good opportunity for Jack to get himself out.

Jack : "I'll find _you_ if I have something to tell you." and with that, Jack moves and pushes Tony aside, giving him a very unkind "Get out of my way."

Nick: "I hope your the sake of your daughter you didn't tell her anything, Jack."

"I didn't.", Jack mutters in a low voice as he walks to the elevator.

"Michelle..." Tony watches Jack slip away. This isn't good. It's not good at all. "Michelle, don't move. Don't leave your desk. I'm going to be right there."

**The Cottage**  
Pat: "Maybe not. But I don't need to kill you. I can hurt you just enough for you to drop that gun and be a good girl."

Joey walks over to the cottage, Pat still hasn't come out, he wants to know what's going on. Since the door's unlocked, he pushes it open and as he sees Kim and Pat pointing guns at each other, he knows it's very bad. Kim drew the weapon he gave her. He's gonna have to extract her from here quickly, before someone dies. He pulls his gun out, just for safety, and points it alternately at Pat and Kim, so he doesn't blow his cover immediately. The door snaps to behind him.

"Pat! Put the gun down, what are you doing? We need her alive... Come on man, be smart. Kim, do the same. It's not like you stand a chance. Guns down. Both of you."

Pat complies. "Alright. Man, she came at me!"

"Right. I'm sure she did. You're lucky if I don't tell Nick about this. Kim, give me the gun." She does. While Pat turns around to the door, Joey hits him with the butt of the gun and knocks him out. "Kim, help me out here. Get some rope from the bathroom. Go." When she comes back, he ties Pat up and gags him, then gets up , facing Kim. "They're gonna be looking for him soon. I'll try to get you out of here as soon as I can... Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Kim nods her head, swallows hard, and looks towards the windows. "I'll be fine. But...I'm not leaving you here. If I'm gone, they'll know someone helped me." She can tell Joey doesn't get it. Who would? Why not just take the chance and run? "I've been here before. I just can't let you risk your life and get me out of here. I know what happens. My dad can help us, he can get a team here, get us both out. Please." She's very sincere in her words. "I don't want anything to happen to you because of me." , she continues.

**CTU**  
All this hasn't been lost on Lisa, who has had an extra set of eyes in Kevin. He has been watching events unfold for her while she has 'kept quiet' and logged into the security cameras. "Almeida's heading back to his desk," Kevin announces.

"Amazing..." Lisa can't help but smile. She thinks the person she just saw is Jack Bauer. But it can't be, can it? Jack's not supposed to be at CTU right now. Not since... She shakes the thought. Had to have been devastating. He never returned her phone calls but she didn't take it personally. "Kevin, keep this socket clear. I want the cameras on and available for monitoring."

Lisa has decided enough is enough. She's going to invade their space even though they won't like it.

Tony manages to get to Michelle just as Lisa is approaching. "Look, Lisa, I need to speak with Michelle. Give me-"

"No." Her voice is calm and firm. "Things are quickly going down the drain around here. I'm here to help, not be stuck in a back room despite what George Mason thinks. You might as well start talking to me or I'll poke my nose around anyway."

Tony feels like giving up. But he has work to do. "Michelle, Jack was here. You had information from him. I want to know what he has had access to and I want you to work on that with Lisa while I go track him down."

"Tony, no. Leave him alone.", Michelle calls out as she glances at Lisa. She doesn't know a first thing about this woman and she certainly doesn't feel like giving out this kind of information to an outside agent.

"Tony, you think I'm protecting Jack, and of course, you're right. But believe me, I have every reason to do so. You know I wouldn't be going around you if I didn't have to..." She knows Tony wants particulars this time, but she feels uncomfortable around Lisa.

"Lisa, I'm sorry, this is very personal information, I have to talk to Tony alone.", she says and pulls Tony away. They walk into an empty holding room.

The questioning look on Tony's face leaves her no choice. If she doesn't tell him what she knows he's likely to mess things up. She's just hoping it won't hurt Jack. Or Kim.

"You want information, okay. But this has to stay between us.", she says with a firm look. "Jack told me not to tell anyone, but since you won't let him be, I have no choice... Jack is here because somebody kidnapped his daughter. Yes, again. And he's just trying to find out who. I've given him full access and Tony, be honest, he helped us. The two names he gave me are of two Russian mob headmen, Michail and Nikolay Petrov. Ten years ago, they tried to expand their ring to Eastern Europe and killed the Bulgarian president when he tried to stop them. Our government put together a mission to apprehend them, but since that failed, they've disappeared. Jack believes they have a hand in what's happening here today." She gets no reaction from Tony. He just stands there, his arms crossed, waiting for more. "Come on, you know he's usually right about these things. Tony, he works **for us**, and you really shouldn't get in his way right now. He's in a place where he needs our help. And we need his." she pauses to let this sink in.

"You heard what he said to you... What is the first thing every rookie learns when they start out? **"Admit nothing, deny everything"**. Can't you see that's exactly what he's doing? He's likely bugged by now and can't talk. Tony, you know Jack. And from what I've heard about him, he wouldn't do anything to put us in danger. As soon as he can free himself from this situation, he'll cooperate. Leave him be. OK? Please."

Her expression is almost placable. "Please.", she repeats and hopes telling him this was not a mistake.

**Cottage**  
Joey: "Kim, I'm an agent. If things go wrong, they go wrong, occupational hazard.", he smiles, trying to make things less tense. But it's not really working. "It's my job to protect you and I'm not letting you out of my sight until you're safe. Stay here, right now my main priority is to take you out."

Kim is still looking unsure about this. "Look, don't worry. I know who your father is, he's the guy who saved the President's life last year. I'm not letting anything happen to you, ok? I've contacted my team earlier, a vehicle is on its way. I'm going with you. If these guys find Pat, he'll talk or they'll wonder how you got the gun and it won't take them long to figure it out, cause I haven't been with them long and they mistrust everyone as a matter of principle. Wait for me. I'll be back shortly."

"Can I at least keep the gun in case he wakes up?" Kim isn't excited about being left alone with Pat, even if he's knocked out. She's not even certain Joey will make it back alive. "Joey, be careful. I really need someone here for me."

Joey to Kim, handing her the gun: "Of course. Kim, it's gonna be alright. Look, whatever happens, my team is informed, you'll be fine." and with that, he leaves the cottage and closes the door behind him.

Alone again. But wait, there's Pat. Kim stares helplessly at the closed door Joey has just exited. She has the need to escape - it's a fight or flight feeling really. It's the need to run, get away from her problems. Yet she isn't in control. Once again.

Kim, gun in hand, takes a seat in front of Pat.

**CTU**  
Someone had Kim. Well that explained everything. Great, just great. Tony sighed but wanted to scream. "Michelle. This isn't something to fool with. Jack may be bugged but we can help him now as much as he can help us and-"

"Excuse me..." Lisa interrupted, "Michelle, Tony? Jack Bauer is involved? Bring me up to date. I know him quite well and can work with you on this."

Michelle to Tony: "Tony, stop stalling. If you're not going to co-operate, at least stay off his toes, he knows what he's doing. Give him an hour or so. If you don't care about Jack, at least try not to get Kim killed, okay!"

Michelle's pretty upset right now. She was expecting this kind of reaction from Tony, but this stubbornness was driving her crazy. If he didn't start cooperating soon, she might have to use that tranq gun on him that Jack apparently used on George some months ago. She gives him one last glance and walks out past Lisa.

Then she reconsiders.

"Lisa, if you'd like to come along, please." Lisa does. They go to another empty office. "You saw Jack Bauer come in earlier today. You probably know he's officially on a leave of absence and as you may suspect, he didn't come here because he was summoned to. Fact is, he's in a delicate situation and he could use all the help he can get. But it has to stay between these walls. I told him you were here and he'll contact you when he needs you."

Fact is also, I don't know you, Michelle thinks to herself. "Lisa, what is your background with Jack?"

Lisa smiles only briefly. "Like most people in this business, Jack and I worked together." She's not giving up anything quite yet. "Heh...you know, we've all got plenty to do around here and I should be getting back to work. If there's anything I should know, just tell me."

With that, Lisa leaves Michelle and nonchalantly makes her way back to the room so sweetly given to her by George.

"Kevin," she speaks in a serious tone, "I need you to leave. Leave the room, make copies, use the bathroom, just go."

"You're about to do something, aren't you?" Kevin's been in this position before and it always makes him uncomfortable.

"And you've never gotten into trouble. Go, Kevin." Lisa waits until he is down the hall to begin. She quickly brings up the video feeds she had previously accessed and begins to pull up the entire series of feeds. Jack can be seen entering George's office. The lights dim but she can see him fumbling with something...he's retrieving files. "Oh Jack...okay, let's take a look at George's computer."

Lisa pulls up George's directories and begins to dig. The Drazens have their own file but it hasn't been accessed in a while. She goes further. What would be logical? Lisa goes to Jack's file. Nothing. Pin his movements.

Lisa returns to the backlogged video feeds. Jack leaves George's office and...where? There are about 30 seconds that she loses him but that's okay. Never give up, right? Lisa scans the feeds quickly and Jack pops up in an office she doesn't know. "Okay, Jack, something's up."

She comes to the conclusion that this could take some time.

Michelle's right and Tony knows it. He makes the decision to take a deep breath and get back to work. If Jack is on to something, there will come a time when he shares it. Hopefully.

Michelle is approached by Catherine, a new CTU techie.

"Michelle, you asked me to scan through all the files and see which ones were accessed last night? Well, I believe I'm on to something here. I think you'd better take a look."

"Alright. What is it?", Michelle asks as they walk over to Catherine's desk.  
"Well, the obvious thing is that someone made it look like they were stealing our backup files. But I did a search and they aren't lost, they had just been re-routed and I found them."  
"Okay, that's good news. But there's more, right?"  
"Yes... The data that were actually compromised... Well, this concerns the whole intelligence community. Every file on every agent currently working undercover has been accessed and copied. That can't be good."

Michelle stares at Catherine in disbelief. "No. It can't."

**Nick's place**  
Joey walks back towards the house. Mick, now in a US navy uniform, block his way.

"Where's Pat?", Mick asks.  
"I dunno. Last thing I know he was taking a leak back at the house.", Joey answers casually, as if he didn't really care.  
"Really? Last thing _I know_ he was going to check up on Kimmy."  
"Well then you must be right. I haven't seen him in a while."  
Mick stares Joey down for another second or so and then replies. "Go get changed. It's almost time."  
"Yeah.", Joey answers curtly and walks away. It's getting tight. He and Kim are gonna have to make a move soon.

**CTU**  
Michelle's distress is obvious to Tony. Usually she's pretty collected but Catherine's news must not have been good. He locks down his system then heads to her desk. "What's wrong? And don't tell me it's nothing," he stops her, "I can read your face quite well by now."

Of course it's not nothing. What would this day be if we got good news at some point, Michelle thinks for a moment, then explains to Tony what's going on, and asks: "Tony, what do we do?"

Tony pulls up the data retrieval system to check the information Catherine provided. "I don't know what to do, Michelle. We've got nothing to go on except the names Jack gave you."

He takes a moment to clear his mind then makes a decision. "All we can do is take those names and begin gathering intel. You take one, I'll take the other. If we divide the workload, maybe we can find where it connects."

**The Cottage**  
It's too quiet. Kim is looking out the window very carefully but cannot see the cars she heard pull up earlier. Pat is starting to stir and all that is running through her mind is what happened last time. Could she shoot him if she had to? Sure she had the gun, but could she really pull the trigger?

She looks at Pat, considers what could lie ahead if Joey cannot return...

Yes. She could pull the trigger.

**CTU**  
Nick to Jack, who is hiding underneath a staircase in the CTU basement: "Open the box and do it."

Jack complies. He takes a small device from the box turns it on. This scrambles the security cameras signals. A few seconds are all he needs to run out of the hiding and into the main control room, freeze the picture emitted by the cameras on that level and turn the device off again. Leaving the control room, he heads down the corridor.

**cottage**  
Pat regains consciousness and looks up. That little brat is holding _him_ hostage, now that's a new situation. He coldly stares at Kim. His eyes unmistakenably say he won't sit through this peacefully.

Outside, a gate in the ground opens and reveals a tunnel and a long underground road. Clearly, truck engines are humming from underneath the premises.

Joey walks inside the house as if to change, but then immediately takes the back door out and hides behind trees, as he tries to make it to the cottage where Kim is unnoticed.

"Joey, where do you think you're going?", he hears behind him, just a few steps away from the cottage.

"Damn" , is the first and only thought that runs through Joey's mind before he swiftly turns around and shoots his silenced gun. Luckily, he is quicker than the other guy, and kills him.

But now, he and Kim have got to go. He runs towards the cottage.

**CTU**  
Lisa is typing in coordinates when she gets something unexpected. Or rather...nothing. In fact, the images on the camera she has just requested are the same. Empty and unchanged. The time isn't moving. Probably her computer. She hopes. She shuts it down and boots it up again with her fingers crossed.

**The Cottage**  
Pat's scowl is noticeable, as well as a distinct motor noise. Kim tries to match Pat's glare. "Don't think about it. Everything I learned, I learned from my dad.", she tells him.

She takes another look out the window and sees Joey coming... no, running towards the cottage. Kim swings the door open for him. "Pat's awake. Something's wrong, isn't it?"

"Kim, we gotta go. Come on. They're getting ready to make an exit. We have a few minutes at best."

As Joey says this, Pat, who had a Swiss Army Knife in his back pocket and had cut the rope in the meantime, suddenly jumps up and heads towards Kim, the knife pointed at her. Joey promptly reacts and fires. As the shot hits him, Pat drops to the floor in agony. Joey kicks the knife away and stands over him, aiming at Pat's head: "What's the target? Tell me and I'll make it quick."

"Screw... you...", Pat mumbles, gasping for air. He's going to die, but he's not gonna die a traitor to what he believes in.

Joey takes just a second to think this over. "Kim. Look away."

Pat's not gonna make it anyway, so why risk somebody talking to him? Joey pulls the trigger.

"Come.", he says, taking Kim's hand and rushing her to the door. A quick glance, and off they go. To the woods. Hopefully towards the FBI team.

**outside**  
Trucks keep riding out of the tunnel. Military transport trucks with soldiers in the back. In US Navy uniforms.

From a distance, a helicopter rotor sounds and is getting closer quickly. Mick is waiting outside the house for the chopper to land. Nick watches through the window, while in contact with Jack. "Jack, don't mess with me if you want to see Kim alive again."

**CTU**  
Jack walks out of the main power room and hits the staircase.

"This is unnecessary.", he utters, but he has no choice.

Nick: "Maybe so. But it's safer for me. Do it."

Jack sighs and checks his watch. He leans against the wall and waits.

**In the woods outside the Cottage**  
Though momentarily stunned, the adrenaline rush has come back and Kim doesn't know if she'll ever let go of Joey's hand. It's the only thing that is keeping her grounded for the moment as they rush out of the cottage, leaving a bleeding Pat behind.

"What? What's that!" She hears the roar from earlier but now it has grown to a massive thunder of rolling and grinding gears and motors. No time for questions, no time for answers. Joey continues pulling her forward through the woods. "They don't just want information from my dad, do they! Why did they take me?"

"My guess is they want to force him to do something and make him take the fall for it. Come on."

Joey knows they will have company soon. "Kim, the FBI team should be at the other end of this trail. If anything happens to me, you just have to follow it, ok?"

**Outside Nick's house  
**Mick quickly greets the helicopter pilot, saying that they're ready to go. Then he gestures to Nick to come out and takes two men with him towards the cottage to get Kim.

The door of the cottage is unlocked, which doesn't smell right. He walks in and sees Pat bleeding on the floor with two bullet wounds and Kim is gone. "Joey!", he shouts out and starts running through the house to the back door which is still open. The two other men follow. He stops behind the house, looking around, but not seeing anything, and takes out his radio. "NICK! Kim took off! We're going after her. Send the chopper up, she is probably heading towards the street."

Nick runs out of the house and gives the orders to the pilot. "And if there's anyone out there, take them out!"

"Copy that.", the pilot answers and runs back into the chopper, starting the engine immediately. A man with an assault rifle joins him and the chopper takes off.

Nick to Mick: "I'm sending a few men around from the other side of the house, case she's headed West. Find her!"

"We will", Mick answers, but he's not sure if he can. How long ago did she run away? And if Joey was helping her, she might be far away already. Their best bet right now is to run through the underbrush as fast as they can and try to catch up.

The helicopter heads over the woods and towards the street, shining a strong spotlight into the darkness between the trees as it flies over the trees.

As the spotlight's beam begins to cross over them, Kim instinctively falls to the ground. "They found us. How did they find us? How!" Now panic is setting in. She pulls away from Joey and begins to run on the trail they were following. "Hurry! I can see a clearing!"

"Kim! Wait!", Joey shouts as he catches up with her and pulls her back. "Stay between the trees, a clearing is too dangerous."

They keep moving, but pretty soon, they can make out voices behind them in the distance. "We're gonna have to split up. I'll lure them away." He knows the surroundings well enough to quickly find a tiny cave nearby, hidden from view. "Crawl in there", he says as he pulls her toward it. "As soon as they pass, go! The longer you stay here, the lesser your chances. More men will follow. Still got the gun?" She nods nervously. "Okay. Good luck Kim." and he runs off, in the direction of the voices.

A few dozen meters away, he hides behind a bush and waits. When he hears the voices closing in, he starts moving forward again, as if he were running away from therm, but deliberately making more noise than necessary as he goes.

Mick falls for the bait. "Wait!", he says as he stops in his tracks. "There, I can hear them.", he says quietly and gestures to the other two to go around from different sides and close in, while he goes straight ahead, following the sounds.

The helicopter clears the woods and sees a black van waiting at the street. Circling around it, the pilot decides it looks like a government vehicle and radioes the news to Nick. Nick gives him the go to fire and he does. An explosion tears the van into pieces and it goes up in flames.

**CTU**

Jack stands as he waits. He doesn't like what he's doing but he has no choice. He sees no outs here. His mind is focused on Kim. Just when did it become so easy to manipulate him? Where does it say 'Just snatch my daughter and I'll do as you wish."? And now he's jeopardizing the people he worked with and he cares about. Again.

He counts down the seconds and then covers his ears.

4...3...2...1... **B O O M !  
**  
The lights flicker, and a moment later, the entire CTU grows dark. The computers are short-circuted, screens start to throw sparks. Catherine is screaming.

**11:59:57 --- 11:59:58 --- 11:59:59 --- 12:00:00**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own 24 or any of the characters. Unfortunately. This is just for fun

The following takes place between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

**12:00:01 --- 12:00:02 --- 12:00:03 --- 12:00:04**

**CTU **

"Emergency protocol procedures NOW! MOVE, PEOPLE!" Even to Tony his voice sounds loud and booming in the chaos that immediately followed the blackout. He tries the phones. Nothing. "Son of a bitch!", he utters.

Catherine's screams aren't the only ones resounding in the building yet she is the closest. Tony runs over to her. "Catherine, we're getting help." Tony attends her calmly and helps her away from her desk. Her face, neck, and hands are burned and cut from flying glass - not severly but enough so that it was painful. "Try to stay as calm as possible." He needs to check the rest of his team.

"Michelle?" He doesn't get an immediate response which worries him. "Michelle!"

**the woods**

The explosion seems to rattle everything in its wake, leaving Kim to only wonder what it took out and what has happened to Joey. Taking a chance, she steps from the small cave to glance around. There are sounds of movement and shouting in the distance further from her but she doesn't see Joey.

A helicopter is flying away from her. What did Joey say? "The longer you stay here, the lesser your chances." Kim silently thanked Joey, double-checked that she had the gun, and made a mad dash for the trail he had told her to stay on. She knew she couldn't focus on what was behind her, if she turned around it would only slow her down. She had to move forward as fast as possible.

**CTU **

It is as if the entire world has gone black. Lisa had just brought up her entire system again and was regaining contact with the security cameras when the sparks flew. Emergency protocol required that flashlights be in every room so she simply crawled on her hands and knees until she found one to switch on and then made her way out.

The entire place was chaotic. But she found Tony yelling.

"Where's your mainframe? Which direction?", she asked.

He didn't have time for this. "Right corridor, second door to the right."

"The generator?" Lisa knew they had one. All CTU branches did.

"It'll kick on in 15."

She nodded and ran to the room he had indicated.

**CTU office**

Michelle runs into the main office from a corridor and shines her torch around the office: "Tony! I'm okay. What happened?", she utters, but the question doesn't really need to be answered. The chaos and the screaming people, the fuming hardware... Either a short-circuit or... She recollects herself and gets the first aid kit, walking over to Catherine and trying to do the best she can, before the medics get there.

Then Jack comes to mind. Could he have done this? "Tony! Where's Lisa?" , Michelle questions.

Relieved to see Michelle, Tony nearly dismisses her question. "Lisa? She's checking on the mainframe, probably to see if it's-" But he stops abruptly. "Why does it matter?" And then it hits him. Of course it matters. "Jack. That's it.", it hits him. "The generator will power up in a few minutes. Michelle, I'm going to trust you to take charge.", he says and goes off.

Shining his flashlight at the nearest security guards, Tony calls them to action. "Jack Bauer is likely somewhere near our communications system. We need to find him a.s.a.p. Darrin, take the southeast exit nearest the stairs to the garage. Todd, take the southwest. I'm heading towards Tech 1. Remember, Jack knows what he's doing."

The guards fan out, Tony is on his own, weapon drawn before him.

**the woods**

Mick catches up with Joey: "JOEY! Freeze! Hands up!" The other two guys come from different sides and take Joey at gunpoint as well. Joey complies. It's the end of the road. The only thing he can do is hope that Kim is on her way out of there by now. Mick disarms Joy and forces him to his knees.

"Where is she! WHERE IS SHE!", Mick shouts, the gun to Joey's temple.

Joey remains silent, his eyes straight ahead.

"WHERE IS SHE!", Mick yells again, hitting Joey across the face. Blood starts trickling from a cut on his cheek.

"I don't know.", Joey answers, accentuating every word. It's obviously a lie, although not because he 's a bad liar.

"This is leading nowhere." Mick takes out his radio. "Nick! I've got Joey. Kim's gone."

"Bring him in! I'll deal with him. Have the other guys continue the search."

"Copy." Nick replaces the radio and grabs Joey by the collar of his combat jacket. "Up! Nick wants to talk to you." He picks Joey up and they start walking him back towards the house. Along the way, they meet the other group of men that Nick sent after Kim and Joey and direct them to where they found Joey, as it seems likely Kim would be close to there.

**CTU**

The corridor is dark except for the small light of his flashlight. Tony moves swiftly, though silently, expecting to run into Jack any moment now. "Jack! There's no good ending to this. What I need to know is why?", he shouts, hoping that Jack will talk before firing. They haven't been on great terms lately.

Tony skirts each corner carefully in anticipation of a confrontation. But nothing, no one. He's coming to the end of the hall, nearing the stairs. His flashlight casts an open area before him and then... a shadow falls in the rays. Tony is now directly before the stairwell. He immediately understands he's found Jack. Pulling the slide of the weapon back to chamber a round and shining the flashlight in the height of where he thinks Jack's eyes are, he speaks.

"My weapon is drawn and the exits are blocked. You have no way out." He moves forward slowly until he is able to clearly make out a profile, next a face. "Come on Jack. Turn around, hands on the wall. It's over."

Jack gets up slowly, facing Tony. The beam of the flashlight in his face is almost blinding. He puts a hand before his eyes. No, Tony, it's only beginning, he tells himself. "Tony, I know you're just doing your job. But trust me, arresting me won't help solve the crisis that we're in."

"Just turn around Jack. Give me your weapon. You know the drill.", Tony doesn't lose aim as he orders him this.

This time, Jack complies, with a loud sigh. And with Nick in his ear, there's nothing he can do. But he does say: "This is a big mistake, Tony.", a statement Tony naturally ignores.

"Now put your hands on your head and interlock your fingers. Slowly." Tony grabs Jacks arms, one by one, locks the handcuffs in place and forcefully pulls him out of the dark corner and into the corridor. "This is it, Jack. I don't know what's up but you're about to tell me.", he threatens, pushing Jack ahead of him. Jack hears nothing from Nick. As he is lead through the familiar corridors and doors, his mind is racing. What do these people actually want him to do here? Will Kim live through this? Now that he's in custody, they won't need her anymore...

Tony leads Jack back into the main CTU office so he can witness the trouble he caused. "See? Look at your victims."

**the woods**

RUN! The word pounded in Kim's head like a hammer. Run she did, as fast as she could.

Soon, she was uphill and at the end of the trail. And at the location of the massive explosion. She sees a few corpses, as black as the smoke hovering over the van. The smell of fuel burning was almost as unbareable as knowing that the vehicle hit was to be her escape. The realization throws her into a panic. Light-headed for a moment, she stumbles across the road and vomits into the brush.

But she knows she has to pick herself up and keep going or they'll be after her, as Joey warned. Kim stops. It's the first thought she's had of Joey in a few minutes. What did they do to him? She didn't want to think, maybe her dad could get back to him in time. If she got out. Trying to ignore the nausea she's still feeling, she tries to think of another way to keep her freedom. She can't wait around for them to find her again.

A gas station couldn't be far. Nick would need supplies and fuel for the vehicles he had brought to the compound.

Kim takes out straight ahead, past the burning van and prays she's right.

**CTU**

The power comes back up and in the bright office light, the chaos becomes visible. Michelle glances up from Catherine to see Tony and a handcuffed Jack. Was this really Jack's work? "Catherine, can I leave you alone for a moment?" Catherine, though scared, nods yes.

Michelle walks up to Jack and Tony and although she knows that if Jack is really responsible for this, he probably had no choice, she is upset and has to confront him. "Jack, what's going on? Was this you?"

Jack only lightly shakes his head: "Michelle, don't."

"Jack, the hardware is busted, all our data are probably gone. It's going to take days to recover everything, if we even can. How could you-"

"Michelle, stop.", Jack interrupts her. Only his eyes give away his thoughts, thoughts he cannot express. "Don't do this."

Michelle remembers the situation he's in. He wouldn't have done this if he didn't have to. She lets go. But she stands there glaring at Jack.

Jack: "I have nothing to say right now." He looks at Tony. "Do what you have to do."

Tony shoots a look at Michelle. It's only too clear that she was as shocked as everyone else. But now there's work to do and a crime to be solved. He pushes Jack forward towards the nearest interrogation room. "You bet I'll do what I have to do. Al, grab the door." The guard opens the door and Tony forceably places Jack into the lone chair at the table.

"Are you happy!" He's baring down on Jack now, right in his face. "What could possibly motivate you to blow our communications and information system! Is this what you want? A legacy like this? Jack Bauer, the great CTU agent who's wife was killed by the woman who he had an affair with and now he's all but lost contact with everyone he ever knew!" Tony gets directly by his ear and whispered loudly, "Congratulations, Jack."

Then he sees it. An earpiece. "Who's listening to us?" Tony yells as he pulls the piece out just as Lisa through open the door.

"Tony, stop! You don't know what you're doing!", Lisa shouts

Tony ignores her and glares at Jack. "WHO IS THIS!" He shakes the piece at him fiercely.

**Nick's place **

Nick walks back inside the house and decides to check up on Jack. "WHO IS THIS!", he hears somebody shouting through the receiver. He sits down to listen in.

**CTU **

Jack glances at Lisa briefly. He's glad she's there. "I don't know." It's the truth. "I don't know, Tony, that's exactly what I need to find out." But he's not going to say more. He can't. "Look, if you need to put me behind bars for this, go ahead. I'm guilty. I'm sorry about what happened. No-one was meant to get hurt. But I can't talk about this." Not here. Not now. , Jack thinks to himself.

**Nick's place **

Nick grins. The plan is working out. Jack's taking the fall as planned. He walks away from the receiver and radios the helicopter pilot. "Ted, see if you can find Kim. Follow the road, don't come back if you don't get her!" The door of the house opens and Mick walks in, pushing Joey ahead of him and into the room.

**CTU**

"Excuse me?" Tony is astonished by what he is hearing. The nerve of this man, thinking he is above everyone else and the law. "You're sorry but you can't talk about this? Wow, that's just great, Jack."

He drops the earpiece to the ground while looking into Jack's eyes, though they aren't really looking back at him. "You have no conscience. Neither does whoever you're working for." Tony brings his shoe down directly on top of the piece, crushing it.

"NO!" Lisa pushes him aside and collects the pieces. Jack's tone, the way he's acting... it doesn't fit a man trying to bring down his own government. "Why would you do something like this? At the very least it's evidence!"

"You don't work here, Lisa! You're only here because George wouldn't kick you out and I don't have the authority to do so!"

Lisa stands and gets into Tony's face. "That's exactly right. Now GET OUT!"

Tony exits, but not without a final word. "I'll find out what's going on, Jack. No matter what you told Michelle, there's always something else. And you'll go down for this!" He walks out slamming the door behind him.

**Nick's place **

The cracking sound in the receiver tells Nick the earpiece is gone. He turns the receiver off, it's of no use. Time for Plan B. But first... He turns to Joey.

"You know I don't have much time, so don't waste it. Tell me what your collegues at the FBI know. And don't give me the _I don't know what you're talking about _bull. I know everything about you."

Joey is a little surprised Nick knows about him being with the FBI, how did he find out? At that moment, he realizes Kim might not have made it to the van. But he remains silent, as he tries to keep his face expressionless and unreadable. There isn't anything to say, really.

Nick kicks him hard into the stomach. "STOP WASTING MY TIME! TELL ME WHAT THEY KNOW!", he yells.

Joey doubles over in pain, but decides to take a chance: "They know everything." It's a bluff, but could cause Nick to make a mistake.

**CTU**

"TONY!" Jack shouts after him. "Tony, get back inside! NOW!"

The door opens and Tony walks in, glaring at Jack, without saying a word, crossing his arms, his stance defensive. "Close the door." Tony does, reluctantly. It's clear what he's thinking. Jack isn't the one in charge around here any more, how dare he give him orders! He opens his mouth to say something, but before he can, Jack says:

"Shut up and listen. The earpiece you just crushed was my only connection to Kim. Somebody kidnapped her earlier this morning and threatened to kill her if I didn't comply. If they hurt her now Tony, it's going to be your fault! And I'll get back at you, I give you my word." Jack's stare is cold, but his voice daunting.

"Oh that's real good, Jack. Threatening a coworker will look very good on the official report." If Kim really was in trouble, though, that could possibly explain Jack's actions today.

And the explanation had served to fill in the blanks for Lisa, who is standing quietly to the side and waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Tony furrows his brow, "You should have been upfront from the beginning. We could have helped you and you know we would have. Do you have any idea who you've been talking to?"

"Possibly we could have found out ourselves had someone not acted hastily?" , Lisa interrupts.

Tony shoots a glance at Lisa, "What's your problem? I'm trying to help now, aren't I? Why don't you just do whatever it is you were doing here in the first place?"

Lisa places the crushed earpiece in Tony's hand. "I _am_ doing my job."

He's getting nowhere here, but Jack has to be his focus. "Okay, Jack, you want to run the show? Tell us where to start."

"For one thing, let's start working together." He pauses briefly, glaring at Tony. Then he starts talking.

"These people contacted me this morning and made me do what I did. And Tony, there was _no way_ I could have avoided that and I really am sorry if people got hurt. I hope everyone's gonna be okay. But I want you to know the data we had are secured. I've transferred everything to Division. It's on their server and available to us. Worst case scenario is we lost about 30 minutes' intel." Jack pauses. "Tony, earlier today, when I came in, I did some research in my old files. I found out what Michelle already told you. I'm suspecting Michail and Nikolay Petrov, two former Russian mob headmen with a reason to get back at our Government. That woman you found dead, Mira Vlasnik, she used to work for them in Eastern Europe. Guess she became a liability. That's where we start. As soon as you can get everything back up and running, cross-reference everything and everyone. Find out where they are. Identify possible targets. We don't know anything about their plans. But if I'm right, they're gonna be big."

He finally glances at Lisa. "Glad you're here, Lisa. I could really use your help."

**the road somewhere near Nick's place**

Kim can hear the whirring of the helicopter but cannot judge its distance. All she knows is it's closer than she would like. Yet she can see a store up ahead... maybe... YES!

She runs and opens the front door, gasping as she requests the use of a phone.

"No public phone, missy." The owner points to a sign on the wall like she's an idiot.

"Please, sir, this is an emergency. I'll pay you for the use."

The owner looks her over for a minute then gives in. "Don't know if it'll work. Lines are down all the time 'round here."

**Nick's place **

Joey is on the floor. His face is covered in blood. "Pick him up." Mick does as told. Nick continues: "I'm going to ask you one last time. How much do they know?"

"Forget it.", Joey mumbles briefly, staring Nick down. This is it. He can feel it. Nowhere left to run. No way out. Joey thinks of Kim one last time. If Nick's people got to his team _before _Kim was there, then she might be alright. She might have made it out. But he'll never know.

The tension grows almost unbearable as Nick holds his stare for what seems like minutes, though it's just a few seconds. Then Nick turns around abruptly and orders to Mick: "Kill him."

Mick takes out his gun as Nick and the other guy leave the room to make final preparations for the exit.

**CTU**

"Cross-reference everything and everyone? Great, just great..." Tony paces across the floor a couple of times before coming to the conclusion that there is no choice but to do what Jack says - after all, he is right. "Okay, the power's back up and, if you did transfer everything to Division's server, we should be able to bring it back to ours rather quickly. Jack, don't go far." He's pointing directly at him. "I want you to be working near or directly with Lisa, Michelle, or myself at all times. I'm monitoring everything you do, don't argue."

He uncuffs Jack, though he cannot help feeling some reluctancy at this act.

Tony leaves, now to find Michelle. "Michelle, start working on the information Jack gave you earlier. We need to cross-reference the names with everything we've got from today. Even Mills and his CIA source. Don't miss anything. And I'm sorry." The apology is fast and abrupt as he heads to his own workstation to salvage the information on his system. "Jack's mixed up with something big. I never should have doubted you."

"Tony...", Michelle starts, but lets go again. There's no time for discussions. They're past that point now. She leaves Catherine with the paramedics. There's work to do. "Tony, I don't know how you want me to do this. We've lost all our data."

**Nick's place **

As Nick packs the final material to get ready to leave. He doesn't bother to take the receiver with him, it's of no use. He grabs his things and leaves the house.

**CTU**

"Can't believe you ever thought of taking a break from this place." Lisa smiles briefly after Tony has finally left. "Jack..." she closes her eyes and shakes her head, "It's unreal. All of this... I'll help you with whatever. You know that. Just don't hide anything from me, okay? I'm not a bad person."

Jack smiles at Lisa, his eyes give away his relief at seeing her. He gets up, taking a step towards her, speaking softly. "Of course you're not... Listen, Lisa... I need you to be my eyes and ears around here, ok? I need to know whatever they find out, as soon as they know... Someone's got Kim, I have no idea where she is and these guys are up to something and we can't even start to figure out what. That's too many uncertainties. Too many questions."

And he knows it's him who's gonna have to find the answers. He turns to pick up his weapon from the table where Tony left it and faces Lisa while holstering it.

"Lisa, I'll trust you to find Kim. Pull whatever strings you need to. I can't trust Tony with this. He's good at what he does, but he couldn't protect her last year and I almost lost her. He's too concerned about following protocol. Please do whatever you can to make sure we find her and that she's safe. " He is almost begging her now. "Lisa... " - and he takes her hand between his - "Please find my daughter."

**12:59:57 --- 12:59:58 --- 12:59:59 --- 01:00:00**


	6. Chapter 6

The following takes place between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. 

** 01:00:01 --- 01:00:02 --- 01:00:03 --- 01:00:04**

**the store**

"It's not working," Kim sets the phone down in frustration. "Is there another station or store around here?"

"Uh-uh," the owner shakes his head, "But... I can close for a few, give you a lift." He steps from behind the counter and towards the door to lock it.

"Oh...no...that's okay...I'll be on my way..." Kim rushes between the owner and the door and slams it open with her hands, then continues to run across the road and into the covering of the thick trees and overgrowth. If she follows the road, she'll be safe. She hopes.

**CTU**

Lisa puts her arm around Jack's neck and draws him into a hug, "I'll find her.", she promises. And she would - no matter what. Lisa was already forming a list of those strings she would have to pull, things she would have to learn quickly. "You'd better get out there or Tony might think something's up. I'm going to move my partner and I from the room George stashed us in so I can keep an eye on the operations."

She winks at Jack. Keeping an eye on the operations was her way of spying yet she would need Kevin for diversion. "I'll be right behind you."

"Okay, Lisa. Thank you.", Jack smiles and then leaves the room.

Jack heads towards Michelle's desk. He has the need to sort this out with her. All eyes are on him as he walks through the office. If looks could kill... Michelle spots him and turns away from Tony. "Jack. I hope you have a solution to this, otherwise I don't know how we can help you with almost no hardware and no data."

"Michelle, I've transferred everything to Division's server, all you need to do is access it."

"Uhm... Okay." She didn't expect this, but she's glad to hear it. She looks around the office. Catherine has been treated and she looks like she's gonna be okay. Most other people suffered not more than a shock. The place almost looks like nothing happened. Almost.

"So what do you want to do?", she questions.

"I need to see the two bodies. Have the CSIs brought them in?"

"Yes, they did. They should be in the morgue. Or the autopsy room."

"Okay, thanks" Jack looks her in the eye, knowing he pulled her into this, and she helped him . He didn't want to get her into trouble. "Michelle... I'm sorry about what happened.", he says sincerely.

Michelle pauses briefly. "I know. You had no choice."

Jack nods. He didn't. No need for further words. He turns around and heads over to the morgue.

"Finally!" Tony is looking to the door and starts towards the people walking through it. "Miranda, what took so long?"

Miranda passes Tony a computer disk with their evidence logs. "It's a good thing we sent the bodies ahead of us. Someone tried to run us off the road - twice." She glances at Sally and Rick. "She's pretty shaken, Rick managed to get them off our tail but we didn't get any vehicle information other than a dark, late-model car with no license. Are Peter and Todd in yet?"

Tony's worried about this newest development - and now Peter and Todd - "They aren't here. Have you talked to them?"

"I couldn't get through." There is clear worry on her face and in her voice.

"We'll find them." Tony tried to be reassuring but isn't certain it comes off well. "You need to get set up in the lab. We've got the bodies ready."

Miranda leads Sally and Rick past Michelle, with Tony following behind. He glances at Lisa setting up in the open and Kevin helping. But he has got to get back to work now.

"Who all was at the house when Mills was killed?" The question is posed to Michelle as he focuses on the AG. "Is everyone accounted for? Wife? Workers? We've got names?"

Lisa removes a special disk from the inside of her jacket. "Kevin, I need you to create a situation."

"Lisa..."

"Just talk to Michelle and Tony. Keep them busy and keep their eyes off of me."

Kevin pushes his chair back and does as told. He knows she wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. "Hey... I'm having trouble breeching the firewalls around the background files. Can you guys give me some help?" He's standing between Tony and Michelle and both seem irritated.

Using her time wisely, Lisa quietly makes her way to George's office and places the disk in his computer. In a matter of moments, she is downloading passwords and codes that will help her help Jack.

And she's poking through the drawers. Antacid and aspirin... Well, it's nice to see things didn't get easier for him, she thinks with a smirk.

**Nick's place **

Nick radios the pilot to bring the chopper back as they need to leave. The helicopter turns back towards the house, and lands at the premises just a little later. The two men leave the aircraft.

Ted, the pilot, walks up to Nick: "Sorry, boss, she's gone. We couldn't find her."

Nick takes out his gun and shoots them both within seconds. "Told you not to come back without her! Mick, you go."

Mick climbs into the pilot's seat and starts the rotor. Nick and the other two guys follow. The chopper takes off. Once in safe height, Nick pushes a button.

The underground garage the trucks came out of earlier explodes with a deafening blast.

**CTU**

"Dan, I need to see the bodies that came in earlier.", Jack says to the coroner as he enters the cold storage room of the morgue. Dan, though surprised to see Jack, doesn't dare question his authority.

"Sure, Jack. They're over here." Dan leads him to the autopsy room where the bodies are ready for the examination and uncovers their faces one by one, as he explains.

"Here's the woman from the apartment, two shots to the chest, presumably a standard issue 9mm handgun. Shot from a very close distance, not more than a foot. Probably didn't even see it coming."

Two shots. A pro. This guy could have Government training, the thought runs through Jack's head. "Wasn't there a second woman?", he asks.

The coroner continues: "Yes, but the woman the highway patrol found hasn't arrived yet. From what the coroner on the scene said, c.o.d was a fracture between the atlas and the axis. Somebody broke her neck."

Dan moves on to the second body. "But here, finally, AG Mills. One bullet right in the death zone, this triangle between the eyes and the nose,", he explains as he points at the area, "Clean shot, went straight through, exit wound is in the neck, next to the spinal column, a very steep angle."

"He was shot from that apartment above?"

"That's what the evidence tells us. But I'm no CSI, you better talk to Miranda or her team."

"Do you know how far that was from Mills' position?"

"Not exactly, but it could have been a hundred yards. Or more."

"Anything else?"

"Well, yes. I heard the bullet that was found on the scene was not American-made. Could have been Eastern European."

That matches Jack's suspicions. "Okay, thanks. I gotta go."

Jack walks back out and calls Michelle, who thankfully picks up and turns away from Kevin, leaving Tony to deal with him.

"Dessler."

"Michelle, it's Jack. Are the systems back up?"

"Almost there, Jack. You got something?"

"I think so. I'm starting to think this guy was one of us at one point. The sniper shot a moving target straight between the eyes from a considerable distance. You only get this kind of training in the marine corps. Start there and see what comes up, okay?"

"Okay. I'll let you know."

"Thanks." Jack hangs up the phone.

**somewhere over L.A.**  
Mick is flying the helicopter high above the city. Nick is working on some file on his laptop. The other two guys are in the back, quiet, staring out the window.

**road near Nick's place**  
A woman is driving down the road, her kid in the backseat making way too much noise, while playing with the puppy he just got. "Peter, dial it down a little, will you!", she turns around to tell him this. Peter is a little startled and lets go of the puppy, which jumps off his feet and to the woman's lap.

She lets go off the steering wheel for a moment to catch the puppy, it's a reflex, she can't prevent it. As she turns her eyes to the street again, she's almost off the road and she notices a blonde girl walking on the roadside. She tries to swerve back onto the road and hits the breaks, but can't stop completely before hitting the girl. "Oh no!", she screams. "Peter, stay right there!", she orders the kid and immediately leaves the car.

Kim is lying on the road, no blood is visible, but she got hit. "Miss? Can you hear me?"

Flying... the only sensation she could remember for this split-second when the world seemed to be on fire. "Ah..." Kim tries to move but she encounters only pain. "My leg..." And the understanding she has no choice but to give in to these people, she can't help herself now.

**CTU**  
"Kevin, work from my station. I've got everything pulled up for you." Tony gladly gives his chair away. "Michelle, I'm gonna check up on Catherine."

Michelle to Tony: "Okay." walks back to her desk to start looking for an ex-marine with a rage against his country. Or maybe just someone ready to sell his soul..**George's office  
**"Jackie," Lisa's on the phone while she waits for the download to complete, "I need NSA's classified files on Michail and Nikolay Petrov - authorization code ZA89748. Yeah... upload to my system, I'll be there shortly. Thanks."

**the road**  
"I'm so sorry about this. My kid was freaking me out, I just didn't see you. I'm really sorry... May I take a look at your leg?" she palpates Kim's leg, from knee to ankle.

"It doesn't seem broken. Come on, let's take you to a hospital, just to make sure.", she helps Kim up and walks her slowly to the car, placing her gently into the passenger's seat. Then, closing the door, she comes over and gets into the car. "Buckle up. Case I hit something again...", she laughs, but Kim doesn't seem to find this funny at all. It was a stupid joke anyway.

She clears her throat. "I'm Heather, this is Peter and that" - and she points to the puppy - "is the reason I hit you. I just got him for Peter, he doesn't have a name yet. What's yours?", she asks as she drives off.

Peter is all quiet now, sitting in the corner, cuddling the puppy and eying Kim anxiously. Heather takes a right turn off the main road, as she heads for the nearest hospital.  
An FBI autocade drives up the main road towards Nick's premises, just as Heather's car disappears out of sight.

**CTU**  
She glances up to George's office for a moment and spots Lisa. Whose side is _she _working on? She's gonna find out.

Michelle sits down at her desk and calls her up. "Hi, it's Michelle. Can I help you with whatever you're doing there?"

Lisa glances at Michelle through the glass then closes her disk and exits George's computer. "Why don't I come down and we'll talk?" No need to spread anything over a monitored line.

**Nick's compound**

The FBI arrives at the premises, the agents swarming out, securing the site. The fire in the underground garage is still burning. The house and the cottage are undamaged.

**CTU**

It takes her only a couple of minutes to clear up George's desk (and to show she was there) before making her way to Michelle. Lisa wants to choose her words carefully but also knows Michelle could go to Tony with whatever she suspects. "We do need to talk... but not here."

She walks back to the room she originally had and waits for Michelle.

"You asked earlier how I know Jack and I was truthful with you - we worked together. We were friends, very good friends." No reaction from Michelle. This woman either doesn't believe her or thinks she's up to something.

"Kim has been kidnapped and she's the most important thing in Jack's life. He knows I have contacts high up and he has asked me to help get her back. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that happens but I need to have access to files, to databases, to servers. I may also need to go out at some point and leave Kevin here."

Lisa lets the information take hold but doesn't give Michelle time to respond. "Michelle, I'm doing this for Jack. He deserves whatever we can do for him. And right now, I need to have a secure line set up for incoming and outgoing calls and incoming data to my system. I'll trust you for that."

**Car**

"My name's Kim." Why not say her name? She seriously doubts this woman and child and puppy are in on anything. Besides, she's being taken to a hospital. There will be a phone there and she can rest. Finally.

Kim smiles at Peter as she gently holds out her hand for the puppy to lick. "You must be very good to him, Peter. I don't know a lot of puppies that lick strangers' hands." Peter is still eyeing her cautiously. "So, he doesn't have a name, huh? What names have you thought of for this little guy?"

Heather smiles, "Peter is a bit shy. Come on, talk to Kim."

Peter silently says: "Spot." and jerks a little in his seat.

**CTU**  
Michelle takes a few seconds before she responds to Lisa and starts connecting the dots. She remembers Jack's reaction when she told him about Lisa being present. And after Tony left, they stayed in the interrogation room a little longer. This could well be the truth. Plus, as long as this woman's doing no harm, they might as well work together. 

"Okay, you'll have it. Look, Jack needs us today and there's no point in not helping him out. Let's just keep this in the closet for now. Anything else you need, come to me. I want us working together okay?"

"As long as I can do what I'm here to do." And Lisa means it. Nothing will stop her from completing this assignment. "I'm waiting for data transmission from a NSA source. I'll share it with you because it will likely be connected to today's events, but I'm browsing through the contents first. I won't need much in the way of passwords," thanks to the information she just downloaded, "so I'll get to work now?"

"Sure." Lisa turns to leave, but Michelle adds: "Lisa... Thank you." and she smiles as she walks back to her desk.

Jack walks back to the main CTU office when his phone rings. "Bauer."

"Agent Bauer? This is Agent Brown, FBI."

**Car**  
"Spot?" Kim smiles a little more brightly this time. Finally the kid has talked to her. "Spot's a good name." She gently pats the puppy as her eyes become misty. "Can I make a suggestion? He looks like a Joey to me. Joey's a good name for a protector. He'll keep you safe." Yes, he will, Kim sniffs a little.

Heather glances at Kim briefly. Though Kim's voice is cheerful, her eyes are suddenly sad. She wonders what this girl has been through before she almost landed under her car.

"Mommy, can I call him Joey?", Peter asks.

"Of course. Whatever you want.", Heather replies and smiles.

"Hi, Joey. That's your name. Joey.", Peter tells the dog as he pets him and then brightly smiles back at Kim.

**CTU Phonecall to Jack**

"Agent Bauer, do you have a daughter named Kim?", Agent Brown enquires.

"Yes. Do you know where she is?", Jack replies, alarmed.

"No. Unfortunately. I can only tell you where she _was_."

He gives Jack directions and the description of what there is on the premises. Jack pulls out a little notepad and jots down the information.

"Do you know for sure she was there?", Jack asks.

"Yes." Brown pauses for a second or two. "Agent Bauer, it goes without saying that this information cannot leave the Community."

"Of course.", Jack agrees instantly.

"We had an undercover agent infiltrating these people and he informed us earlier today that your daughter had been taken hostage by the group. We sent out a team to extract her, but they never made it out. Our team and our undercover agent have been killed. As far as we can tell, your daughter wasn't with our team when it got attacked. But we don't know if she managed to escape or if she was recaptured... I am sorry I can't give you better news. That's all we have for now."

Jack sighs. At least Kim could still be alive. "Okay, thank you for the call." Jack hangs up and quickly finds Tony.

"Tony, I need a chopper. I just got informed about where Kim was held, I want to go and see if I can get any clues out of there."

"No." Tony barely looks up from his work. "I can't let you go, you're not cleared. Give me the coordinates and we'll get a team out there. We're better prepared then you could ever be. Besides, you said she _was_ there. You, alone, aren't going to find her."

**car**

Heather turns to Kim: "How's your leg?"

"Um..." Kim takes only a brief look, "It's swollen but I think you're right, it's not broken. I can move it." Not without pain, she thinks ruefully. "You've got a great son, Heather. He's going to break a lot of hearts." She ruffles his hair gently. "I don't have any brothers or sisters. How 'bout you?"

Peter shakes his head. "Uh-uh."

Heather: "We're almost there. The hospital is right down the street."

**CTU**

Data strings are starting to filter to Lisa's computer. Kevin hears a familiar buzzing and runs to it, even if he attracts attention - which he does. Luckily, Lisa manages to meet him at the computer before anyone who has seen can make their way over.

"This is... good..." She can't believe what she's seeing. Tracking data NSA has on Petrov from the last two months. "JACK!" Too late. Lisa knows she has yelled out loud. But at least Jack is nearby, irritating Tony.

Jack ignores Tony's comment for the moment. Tony's following protocol, as always. "Fine.", he utters dryly and walks over to Lisa. "What have you got?"   
**Nick's place**  
In the woods surrounding the premises, there's sudden movement. A group of uniformed men is taking position. The group leader gives a signal. Gunfire begins. Agent Brown is hit in the shoulder and falls to the ground. As he crawls to take cover behind a vehicle, he shouts what is pretty obvious to everyone: "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

Then he draws his weapon and starts looking for a target to fire back at.

**01:59:57 --- 01:59:58 --- 01:59:59 --- 02:00:00**


	7. Chapter 7

The following takes place between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. 

**02:00:01 --- 02:00:02 --- 02:00:03 --- 02:00:04**

**Nick's place**  
Within seconds, the scene is alive with gunfire. It's like a battlefield with the underground facility still on fire, bullets flying from everywhere, the FBI team trying to take cover and not lose even more agents.

Agent Brown spots one of the agents running towards the house and shouts: "TOMMY GET DOWN!", but in the next moment, Tommy falls to the ground, hit by four bullets from all sides.

Brown can make out a shooter in the woods and fires back. A loud groan confirms the hit. A shot whistles just inches past his head. He ducks and takes cover again, firing back in the direction the last shots came from.

**CTU**  
Lisa and Jack take a few steps away from the others. She begins the update. "NSA has been following Petrov for months. They've had his location pinpointed, too. And, from what I'm getting in the small amount I've glanced through..." Lisa pulls up the breakdown file that updates organizations each day. "The FBI is involved and had men very close to this operation. I wouldn't be surprised if they had an undercover agent inside. Which means, Kim's probably got help."

Lisa smiles but continues, "Anyway...location...Tujunga Canyon, right at the entrance to the San Gabriel Mountains. There are plenty of locations for a person to get lost, stash equipment, even bring in helicopters and small planes without being noticed by the general population. This is where Petrov's team is. Give me five minutes, I'll get airspace permission and we can go."

"Lisa, I'd rather you stayed here, I might need your inside help. Let me just go out there and see if I can find anything that connects Petrov with today's events or what he's up to. I should be back within the hour."

Lisa sighs, she should have expected this. "You know I'll do whatever you ask..." she glances towards Michelle who is looking their way, "But don't do this to protect me. I can handle myself, that much you should already know and, Jack... Nina's in jail.", she whispers the last words.

She knew that was at least one thing Jack was afraid of. "However," now she speaks in a normal tone, "at least take someone with you. Kevin can go and he won't get in the way."

Nina. Just hearing that name cuts like a knife already. But yes, she's in jail and he's going to make sure she stayed there. That woman didn't deserve any more of his thoughts being wasted on her, so Jack focuses again on what lies ahead.

"You trust Kevin?" Lisa says yes. "Fine, send him to the chopper, I'll be right there." Jack makes a move to leave but notices Michelle's curious looks in their direction. "Lisa, you and Michelle should work together. She's on our side."

**The Car**  
"I really appreciate this," Kim glances out the front to try to see the hospital, "You'll never know how much I appreciate this. Don't think you have to stay around. I'm not going to press charges or anything."

Heather smiles. "Oh, no, that's the least we can do, Kim. We'll wait until we know you're okay. It's right around the corner now.", she says as she nears the crossroads.

Heather turns into the parking lot of the hospital. "Come on, let's get you in the ER."

**Hospital ER  
**Finally in the ER, Kim has one concern. "I need to make a phone call as soon as possible," she announces to Heather, "It's very important." But as she looks towards Peter, she notices the expression on his face. "Don't worry, everything's okay. I just need to get in contact with someone." She tries to smile to make him feel better.

Kim glances around carefully then speaks, "Heather, I need to talk to you. It's important."

Before Heather can answer, a nurse walks over to them. "Hello, I'm Mary." She notices Peter hiding behind Heather's legs. "Hi, little man. You alright?"

Peter nods but stays hidden. Mary goes back to doing her job. It's not like she had time to play around with some tiny brat. Her shift was supposed to be over two hours ago, but that bitch, Lauren, called in sick ten minutes before she was supposed to come in. Now Mary was stuck. But there is work to do. "Okay, what have we got here?", she turns to Heather this time.

Heather glances at Kim. "A car accident. She's got a nasty bruise on her leg. Might be her ankle."

Mary: "Okay. Let's get you checked. The doctor will see you now. Can you walk? I can get you a wheel chair if you like."

"No, thanks," Kim smiles - albeit briefly, "I'll walk."

**CTU**  
If Jack trusts Michelle, she will too. Lisa pulls out her cell to contact the FAA and signals Kevin at the same time. "Kevin, you're going with Jack out in the field. He's in charge out there, okay? What I've taught you, ignore."

Kevin grins, "I always do." He shakes Jack's hand, "Nice to meet you. Lisa's told me a lot about you so it's quite an honor. She really admires you."

But just as the formalities end, the trouble sparks again.

"It's nice to see team spirit." Tony has approached fast and is standing beside Lisa, arms crossed. "Who are you on the phone with, Lisa?"

Lisa doesn't end her call, she doesn't look at Tony. "Lisa Elliott, clearance code 45DF4. CTU Los Angeles will be requiring helicopter flight space for the next 6 hours or more over Tujunga Canyon."

"I cannot..." Tony can't believe this. His orders have been overridden by someone who doesn't even work for CTU L.A. "Hang up, Lisa.", he urges her.

She continues to wait for the clearance, not caring to look at him.

"Hang up or I'll file a report with Division.", Tony is approaching her.

"Thank you. I'll let you know if there's anything further." Lisa ends the call and turns to Tony. "Jack has the airspace clearance."

"Yeah?" Tony glares at Jack, "Well, he still doesn't have the chopper."

**Hospital**  
Kim follows the nurse down the corridor, though her ankle is throbbing painfully and it's clear she's limping. By the time she is finally shown to a room, the pain has become so intense she doesn't know if she can take it anymore.

Sliding up on the bed, Kim watches the anxious looks on Peter's face. "You'll have something to tell your friends." She hoped. She hoped nothing would go wrong... "I don't think it's broken," Kim says to Mary. "How long is this going to take?"

"I don't know. But you're in no rush, now. Just relax." Mary turns to Heather. "Are you her mother?"

"Uhm... No.", Heather regrets the answer she just gave almost momentarily.

"Then I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Only family is allowed in here."

Mary escorts Heather and Peter out. Heather glances back at Kim: "Don't worry. We'll be right outside."

The doctor walks in. "Hello, I'm Dr. Rogers. So...", he checks the form Mary filled out. "So, you hurt your leg. Alright, let me take a look."... He works down her leg from the knee, asking "Does that hurt?" as he moves on to her ankle. "We will need to X-ray it to be sure, but it's probably not broken. The ankle doesn't look too good, though, I'll give you something for the pain."

Kim relents, it might be best to just wait here for awhile. But she still needs to talk to Heather, at least to convince her to leave. "I really need to speak with the woman who brought me in, please. It's very important."

"Of course. As soon as we're done here.", the doctor smiles.

**CTU**  
Jack walks over to Tony. Why did Tony _always_ have to make things difficult? "Tony I don't need a pilot, I'll fly it myself. Just let me go.", Jack asks him in a friendly tone. Tony's unimpressed, his face shows no reaction.

"Tony what are you trying to do! This is not only about Kim any more. Can't you see you've got bigger problems than trying to stop me from finding my daughter!

"Yeah I've got bigger problems but I don't need you adding to them!" Tony's standing his ground, unconvinced that Jack can hold his head above water for long. "For us, it's not about Kim. For us, it's about _why_ Kim was taken, _why_ these Petrov brothers want you involved, and _why_ AG Mills was killed. But for you, Jack, today will be about Kim until she is safe. I completely understand that you're worried - you _should_ be. But let us do our job and don't get in the way. You've helped locate where she was. Now wait."

"WAIT!", Jack is appalled. "You mean like last year? When I trusted you to protect my family and lost my wife? Almost lost my daughter? No, I don't think so! You're doing your job, fine, but you're doing nothing to solve the problem. You had nothing on these guys before I came in and you know damn well you're gonna need my help today."

He's right in Tony's face now. "Yes I'm worried about Kim and I _don't_ believe you can find her in time, but I also know that the answer to what the Petrov's are up to can be found on their location and I'll find it, whether you agree to it or not."

Before the two men are at eachother's throats, Lisa decides to intervene. "I think Tony will agree to let you go as long as someone goes with you, Jack. Right, Tony?" Lisa has physically pushed herself between themt now. If anything is going to happen, she'll be right in the middle of it.

Tony's only eye contact is with Jack, but he responds to Lisa. "Right. You've got Kevin ready, don't you?"

"That's right." He must have overheard everything. Good hearing, she thinks.

"Fine. Send the two of them." Tony glares at Jack, "You report the minute you're on the ground. I want you to maintain radio contact with Lisa since she seems to be the only one you're willing to listen to."

He turns and stalks away, unhappy but ready for what the next hours will bring. It's time to let Jack do his job. Jack's eyes follow Tony's figure. If Lisa hadn't done what she did, he would have smacked Tony one.

"Now let's go to work, Jack." Lisa gently puts her hand on his arm to bring Jack back to reality. "We have a job to do, right? And you gave me an assignment which I intend to fulfill. Kevin," - he's standing to the side -, "go out to the landing pad and make sure everything's ready. Jack'll be right out." Kevin leaves.

Jack stands there for a moment longer. Tony's still giving him a hard time, he thinks. One of these days that guy's going to go too far.

Then he abruptly turns away. "Yeah. There's work to do." He walks out and towards the landing pad without a further word to anyone.

**Hospital**  
As soon as he's done? "Why..." Kim sighs in frustration but allows the doctor to work. So many thoughts run through her head at once, she wishes she could relax. And then Nurse Mary provides her with pain meds. "Thanks," she sips water to take them with. "A phone, too? As soon as I can make a call, please."

Mary: "Oh, don't you know? The phone company's having some trouble. The phone lines are down in the entire area. Probably won't be up again until tomorrow." She notices the anxious look on Kim's face. "Sorry about that. Why don't you just stay here and relax for a while. You'll feel better when you've had some sleep."

The doctor decides Kim is ready for X-ray and Nurse Mary takes Kim there, pushing the bed out of the room and towards the x-ray room.

Outside, Kim glances around, but Heather and Peter are nowhere to be seen.

**Helicopter landing pad, CTU**  
Jack swiftly joins Kevin and the pilot by the chopper. Putting on the helmet, he climbs in and they take off. The pilot informs them the estimated flight length is about 15 minutes.

**in a different chopper**  
Nick is still busy with his laptop.

SEARCHING...

the screen informs him. Then, finally, a hit. He brought up a hidden file from the disc. He clicks on an icon called **_SSBN_**. A spreadsheet opens. Dates, numbers, names, locations. "Got it?", Mick asks.

"Of course. Our source is reliable. Everything we need to know is on here. I bet Mills never knew what was on this disc." Nick smiles as he says this. "I just need to know how he got the disc in the first place."

He starts looking for the author of the file and stumbles over a code. He switches to a Government search engine, types in this code and it yields an ID: _Agent Michael Burton, CIA. . _

"Gotcha!" Nick mumbles to himself, then takes out his cell phone and makes a call.

**Hospital**  
An uneasy feeling washes over Kim as her ankle is x-rayed. Maybe Heather took Peter to the cafeteria or she took him home. But something's wrong. Kim can feel the pain medicine beginning to kick in, her head is getting fuzzy. "Excuse me? Nurse? Someone?" How strong was the medicine? She fights to keep her eyes open. Joey, someone needs to get Joey. Help him! Where is he? What if Pat is able to escape and find them? Kim can't get up, can't move. The medicine has taken over.

**CTU**  
Tony is locked into the chopper's radio and is in contact with the pilot. "Terry, take them to the canyon and wait. Don't leave. I don't care what Jack Bauer tells you to do, you're under my command."

Terry glances at Jack, "Gotcha, Tony." He brings the chopper to a steady altitude. "We're at 7000 feet."

"Tony," Lisa is next to him now. What she wants to do is to reprimand him for the inconsiderate way he handled Jack, but she won't. "We know Kim's not at the Petrov compound. Why don't you work with my NSA contact on what they have?"

He rolls his eyes, "I'm not an idiot. Jack's got you on his team. No, I'm doing just fine right here. _You_ work with your contact."

Lisa tosses a look at Michelle before walking away.

**Chinatown**  
"Another wild...goose...CHASE!" George kicks the car tire before getting back inside his car. More than two hours wasted! On what! NOTHING! This source was a no show! Stupid stupid stupid!

He'd figure out who it was later. And then do something.

He speeds away from Chinatown back towards CTU. Hopefully it's the same, loveable place he knew before Lisa came.

Oh great. Jack! George slams his fist on the wheel. He'd forgotten Jack had returned as he was leaving. He pushes the gas pedal to the floor. If ever there was a reason to go to work...

**Air Force One, somewhere over Los Angeles**  
David Palmer is waiting. Waiting for what? Waiting for who? Well, right now he's waiting for Aaron Pierce.

"Mr. President." Aaron hands him two pills and a glass of water.

"Thank you, Aaron. Can't let the people see their President with a headache." Both men share a grin as they prepare for the afternoon's set of meetings. "It has been a tough morning."

Palmer had spent it with his lawyer, making final changes on the divorce papers. He'll likely hear from Sherry later today and he certainly isn't looking forward to it. He frowns at the thought of having to face her, personally or on the phone.

"Sir, Air Force One is preparing to make its decent. We'll be landing in about 30 minutes."

David nods. He hadn't been to LA for quite a while now. His thoughts drift to the Presidential Primary last year, the events of that day and Jack Bauer... What is Jack doing now, he asks himself. Has he been able to get over his wifes death? Things have changed now. If he has a minute or two in LA, he'll give him a call. Just to see.

**CTU**  
Tony receives a call on his cell phone. A deep male voice sounds from the other side of the line.  
"Mr. Almeida. Don't answer. I have information that concerns your current investigation and that you should know about. Meet me in 20 minutes at 333, South Spring Street. Parking lot. Lower level." The line disconnects.

**CTU Helicopter**  
In the meantime, Jack has briefed Kevin on where they're going and why. Off the radio, of course. He's going to need someone to work _with_ him out there.

"Kevin, I don't know what we're looking for yet, except that there must be something that connects these guys with my daughter's kidnapping and the assassination. I want you to keep your eyes open for everything that could be of any significance and report only to Lisa or me. Understood?"

Kevin nods. "Sure." Not the first time he's going to go over someone's head at CTU. He's used to that with Lisa.

**Hospital**  
Heather and Peter walk back inside after checking up on the dog in the car. Kim isn't in the room. Heather walks up to a nurse and is informed Kim is in x-ray but that she cannot go in there. She and Peter sit down and wait.

**CTU office / helicopter**  
Michelle is still working on checking for military personnel with a reason for vengeance. She stumbles upon a name and contacts Jack.

"Jack, I think I've got something."

"On the shooter?"

"Yes. An ex-marine. Mark Codis. Marine Corps Headquarters, Intelligence Department. Dishonorably discharged two years ago. Six trips to Europe in the last four months."

"Got a current address?"

"Last known location is LA. But that was two months ago."

"Okay, send his vitals to my panel."

"Got it."

"Thank you."

Jack hangs up and takes out his panel to receive the data from Michelle, briefly glancing at Kevin as he does so.

**CTU**  
Tony says nothing as he enters the coordinates into the computer database and waits for information about where he is supposed to be going. It's a parking garage alright, but is one of the few in the city that has no sat feed on it. He'll have to go in blind. But now the question arises - should he tell Michelle? Probably. At least someone would know where he was headed if he never returned.

Tony grabs his id, weapon, and phone, then heads straight for Michelle but stops midway.

"How'd the babysitting go?" George is back and he doesn't look happy. "Did she give you any problems?" He's glaring at Lisa.

"No, George," Tony lies, "She's been very helpful. Where have you been? Did your source pan out?"

George chuckles. "He was a no show. But I got to see Chinatown. Great way to waste a couple hours. Get me up to date."

"Well..." Tony really feels the time crunch, "I'm on my way out to check a lead. I can't talk right now." He manages to get Michelle's attention briefly. "I'm going to call you from the road. Be ready." And he leaves.

**CTU Helicopter**  
Feeling free now that he's out of Lisa's range, Kevin waits for Jack's call to end before speaking.

"She's told me about you," he pauses briefly to get Jack's attention, "Lisa. Based on the way she talks, no one could live up to the way she feels about you." He does a radio and weapons check. "I've worked with her for the last few months in field ops. Every move she makes is based on 'What would Jack do?'"

Kevin grins at Jack knowing full well Lisa would kill him should word of this conversation ever get back to her.

Jack smiles at Kevin's words. Lisa was still looking up to him after all these years. Good to know at least someone out there thinks he's doing his job well. "Lisa and I have been very good friends for a long time. We lost contact lately, though."

Jack lets his mind wander for a moment, back to a few years ago when Lisa, George and him worked together, back when no-one threatened his family, when Walsh and Teri were still alive and his marriage was happy. Then George hooked up with Lisa - and Jack was thankful for that.

"Hey, we'll get your girl back.", Kevin says and Jack is suddenly serious again. A beep on his panel informs him that the data download has finished. _Focus, Jack!_ he tells himself and without any further comment on the Lisa subject, starts viewing the file.

**02:59:57 --- 02:59:58 --- 02:59:59 --- 03:00:00**


	8. Chapter 8

The following takes place between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. 

**03:00:01 --- 03:00:02 --- 03:00:03 --- 03:00:04**

**CTU**  
Michelle watches Tony hastily walk away. She thinks about checking his terminal to see where he's going to. But George is still standing beside her. Nothing much she can do to help without him noticing. And Tony didn't look like he wanted to share that information with George at this point.

She starts wondering about Mason. Didn't he even notice the mess this place was in since the short-circuit? It was just like him to only see what he wanted to see.

And he's still not moving from her side. A little distraction would be nice now. Where's Lisa? She glances around, but doesn't see her. Michelle quickly re-routes her phone line to her cell phone and gets up, slipping the phone into her pocket.

"George, I'm going to IT for a minute. Lisa is in her office, if you want to talk to her." And with that, she turns and walks out of the office, in search of a quiet place to take Tony's call.

"Yeah, but I don't want... to talk to her... sheesh" George lets his voice trail off as Michelle walks away. Of course Lisa is probably up-to-date and has the information he needs but does he want to deal with that now? He'd rather deal with Michelle. At least she's nice.

"Oh, you're back. I really could use your office. I need phone access and an extra computer.", an all too familiar voice behind him sounds.

Apparently the gods are against him today. George rolls his eyes before facing Lisa. "Fine, Lisa. Go upstairs, take the phone, take the computer, take the office. Take whatever you want. You've done that with everything else in my life."

"Oh, grow up." She cannot believe they're having this conversation now. "Do your job and run this office. Some computers still aren't up so communication is a problem. Jack Bauer's daughter is in trouble, all I'm doing is helping to find her."

"I bet that's all you're doing." George feels the sting of Lisa's hand before he sees it.

**CTU Helicopter**  
"Agent Bauer!" Terry the pilot gets Jack's attention and is pointing out the window. "We're over the canyon ridge."

Kevin's peering outside with binoculars. "I can make out a building through the trees. And," he takes a moment, "off to the left about 500 yards... a possible clearing. We could land there."

Jack grabs binoculars as well. "Terry, fly a circle over the compound, let us see what we're dealing with here."

**somewhere in LA**  
A man walks out of a house in Downtown LA, looks around and starts walking to a car, taking large steps and looking over his shoulder with almost every step. As he finally gets in, he closes his eyes for a moment and breathes a sigh of relief. Then he starts the car, and after looking around to all sides, drives off.

**Tony's car**

Tony has succeeded in escaping the confines of CTU without many people noticing. He is on the road now, traffic is getting heavy so he's going to have to take the back roads.

**CTU **  
George clears his throat. All eyes around the room are focused on him. Not Lisa, him. "Why don't we take this upstairs?" He says in a low voice but doesn't wait for a response to go to his office.

Lisa slams the door to his office behind her, effectively shattering the silence that normally allows the CTU staff to work calmly. "What is your problem? We can't work together without dragging up the past!"

"No, Lisa! No, we can't!" Even George is surprised by his response. He hadn't expected to get loud or emotional today. "This has never been about you not getting this job, though by rights it should have been yours. It's always been about you and Jack Bauer-"

Lisa's face is red with anger, "You son of a-"

"Don't deny it! Back then, the three of us," George waves his hand and shakes his head, "it was always a game! You flirting with a married man, me trying my best to catch your attention. How'd I do it? Did you finally give up? Because I can't imagine it taking too much to get Jack! Heck, he had an affair with the woman who ended up killing his wife!"

"I cannot believe you." Lisa has gone from anger to resentment to utter disbelief. "This is what you've been hanging onto? You think that I went out with you because of Jack?" Now she is the one shaking her head and rolling her eyes. The three of them had spent so much time together, she thought she knew George better than this. "You have no self-confidence."

George's head shoots up. Lisa continues. "I said yes to you the first time you asked me out, you idiot. If you weren't so stubborn and could see past your own mistakes, maybe -"

"What? Maybe what? I didn't end this, Lisa, you did! The minute I told you about Teri dying, you were on the phone trying to call Jack! You think I was going to hang around while you went after him again? And you know I didn't even want this job! Maybe Hammond knows about your little plan to get Jack back and that's why he knew better than to put you here!"

That was it. There was no use in talking to this man. "I'm done. Rant all you want, George. I'm not talking to you anymore."

George follows Lisa as she walks out and down the stairs. "Run away like you always do! Run back to your boyfriend! Just make sure you don't get caught in the cross fire!" This time, it's George who slams his office door behind Lisa.

**CTU Helicopter**  
"Dropping to 5000 feet." Terry takes them down.

"I've got two buildings, Jack." Kevin points them out, "But there's a depression in the ground. Like an explosion of some sort maybe."

"Terry, circle to the large building in front.", Jack tells the pilot.

As the chopper comes around, the scene comes into focus. Vehicles are parked and... "What the hell happened here?", Kevin utters.

**Hospital**  
Kim is drifting in and out of sleep. She can see the form of someone in the room. "D...dad?" Where is he? He should be here by now. Kim falls back to sleep wandering why her father hasn't talked to her yet.

**CTU**  
Andre leaves his work station to find Michelle. He watched her walk down a corridor and she has yet to return. After the incident that just occurred, she's the one he believes has the level head on her shoulder.

"Michelle?" When he sees her, Andre calls out to get her attention, "People are starting to lose it out here. We need something to go on."

Michelle: "Andre, I just need a few minutes, I'll be right there." What's taking Tony so long? And where's Catherine? She decides to find out.

"Uhm, Andre, listen, can you do me a favor? Try to find Catherine. I haven't seen her since the paramedics left. I thought she was alright, but I'm starting to wander. Okay? I'll be right with you." and having said that, she turns around and goes to the bathroom, seemingly the only quiet place to take a confidential phone call around here. Call, Tony. Call!

**CTU Helicopter**  
Jack glances around. "This place has been torched." Fire, corpses, vehicles, everywhere you look. He signals to the pilot to lower the chopper. "Terry, I need you to hover over the ground, let us jump off, then I want you back in the air, surveying the area. Whatever happened out here, there still may be people to deal with! Scan the surroundings!" Terry nods and gives Jack the thumbs up sign.

Jack tries contacting Michelle on the radio, but she doesn't respond. He calls up Lisa.

"Lisa, we need a back up team out here now! Looks like the FBI has been ambushed." Jack's face turns sour at her reply. "I don't care how you get passed George, just do it, please!"

The helicopter is now hovering just inches over the ground. Jack glances at Kevin. "Ready?" He is. "Let's go."

Jack and Kevin make the jump and immediately run for cover. They try to secure the area, while the chopper rises back up in the air.

**Tony's car**  
Finally, Tony hears the beep that lets him know he's getting a clear signal. He dials CTU. Michelle picks up on the other end. "Hey. Sorry about just leaving like that but I've got no time here. Someone called and told me to meet them at 333 South Spring Street. I've pulled it up on my system and it is what the person said it is - a parking garage. The only problem is there's no satellite feed for the area so I'm in the dark about what surrounds it other than it's in a public place. I didn't get much else other than they had something to tell me about today's events."

He's on Union Drive now, he makes a turn off to Wilshire Blvd, that should take him close to the vicinity he's supposed to be in. "I know you've got a lot on your plate right now and, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure who to trust or who to believe. Right now I'm just going on a wing and a prayer. Can you give me anything about this location? Has Jack made contact?"

Michelle is relieved to finally hear Tony's voice. As for Jack... "Yeah. They should be closing in on the location now."

She's not going to tell him about Codis. Not yet. "I don't think George knows what's going on yet." She wants to ask him what to tell George when he starts asking questions, but lets go. Tony should stay focused on what he's doing, in case something goes wrong at the meeting point. "I'll see what I can find out about that location. Anything else you want me to do?...Okay. I'll get in touch with you." She exits the bathroom and starts heading towards the office again.

**Nick's compound**

The carnage that took place earlier is still clear as Kevin and Jack carefully pick their way through the bodies and debris.

"The place looks clear, Jack," Terry radios from the chopper, "The outbuilding's door is open but I see no movement. There's smoke up the hill a ways. I'm going in for a better look."

Kevin checks for badges and id's. "FBI - at least ten, so far." From his viewpoint, he can see a mess inside the compound. "Looks like more bodies inside."

**CTU**  
Go around George. Lisa just wants to cry - and that's something she never wants to do. She should be out there helping to find Kim but she's stuck at CTU being yelled at and having to do work on the sly.

No time to waste. She takes a deep breath. Using the passwords she skimmed, Lisa accesses backup units and determines which would be the quickest to mobilize. Calling up the C Team leader, "Hi, this is Agent Lisa Elliott. I'm working with Jack Bauer on an assignment. He needs your backup team in place asap in the area of Tujunga Canyon. Let me get you the coordinates."

She downloads the information to the leader. "34d 16'39.11''North, 118d 19'58.27''West. You got that? Yes, George Mason has authorized this mission. I'll be following your progress. You can reach either me or Michelle Dessler at this number. She's working the same assignment today. Thanks."

Lisa contacts Jack next. "Jack, C Team is mobilizing. They're within ten miles of the compound and will bring snipers with them." She takes a deep breath, "How are you doing out there? Anything to show Kim was there?"

**Hideout**  
Jack is glad to hear about back up. He radios back to her: "Okay, thanks Lisa."

He continues to make his way to the main house, slowly, gun drawn, eyes scanning the area. "Looks like the entire FBI team is dead. Nothing on Kim yet. Hold on a sec." Jack walks over to a uniformed corpse. Navy? This guy is not FBI. But if the Petrovs are part of this, he most likely isn't an American soldier, either.

"Lisa, get me Michelle... What do you mean she's not there?... Okay listen, she gave me a name earlier, an ex-marine. Mark Codis. Have her cross-check it with anyone in the Navy. Likely in a high rank. I have this feeling that the Petrovs have got inside help within the military... Thanks. Look, I gotta go. Get back to me when you've got something."

He turns the radio off. This place still isn't cleared. Whoever pulled the trigger last, might still be out there and they could be walking right in front of his gunbarrel.

**CTU**  
A phone call is put through to George's office.

"No, I didn't authorize any mission concerning C Team and back up for Jack Bauer." George listens and then suddenly everything is clear. "Really? And she gave you the authorization code? Uh huh... Thank you very much."

**The Compound**  
Kevin clears a path from the front entrance to the back. "Jack, we've got a road to the next building. I can see it from here. Do you want me to proceed?" He can hear vehicles approaching. Friend or foe? "Did you get back up?"

Backup? Already? "Yes, I did, but I only spoke to Lisa a couple of minutes ago. This might be too soon. We have to assume these vehicles are not CTU. Try to stay covered."

This distraction caused them to stay in plain view for a few seconds too long. A bullet hits the ground just inches away from them. They're startled for just a split second, but dive behind a burning van immediately. "Kevin, you OK?" Kevin nods. Just then, a voice resounds out of nowhere.

"JACK! JACK BAUER! Get out of there and show yourself or your partner dies."

Jack doesn't move except he glances at Kevin, and then tries scanning the area to locate the shooter. He sees no-one. If this guy still aimed at them, there's only one side he could be located at. But the shooter is well hidden.

"Come on, Jack, I don't have all day!", the voice resounds again.

**CTU **  
Lisa sprints from her location to find Michelle, who she bumps into - literally as she putting away her cell. "There you are!" For a moment, a smile crosses her face as she's relieved.

"Jack's on the ground. The FBI team has been taken out. He wants you to do some checking on a name you gave him earlier." She consults her notes, "A Mark Codis. Cross-check the name with high-ranking Navy officials and get back with me as soon as you can."

Michelle nods "Okay." Walking back to her desk, she can't help wondering... First the Marines, now the Navy, how high up does this thing actually go? She wants to tell Jack about the source Tony went to meet, but reconsiders. It will just distract him and he can't do anything about it.

But she is going to try and help Tony out. He said there was no satellite feed. But maybe she will be able to find it through the NSA. She logs in and bingo! She's in. "Okay, 333 South Spring Street... Show me what you've got..."

**The Garage**  
Tony's pulling up to the said parking garage. He doesn't like the looks of things - it's not as out in the open as he thought. He makes a quick phone call to Michelle as he's the only one around. "Michelle, I'm here and waiting. You have anything yet?"

**The Compound**  
Kevin doesn't chance a move but keeps his eyes going in all directions. He'll gladly work with the hidden person if it gets them any information. "We don't have all day either! What do you want? We aren't here to play games!"

Another shot, this one closer. Kevin winces at the same time Jack does. "Can't get a direction!" He warns Jack. "Maybe... far left?"

The voice sounds again: "I'm not playing games either. Come on, Jack. I really only want you, but I have no problem with sending your partner to hell as well."

He fires another shot, even closer to the van, now just inches away from Kevin. "The next one won't miss, Bauer!"

The voice of the shooter seems to be coming from all sides, through loudspeakers surrounding the area. It is impossible to tell where it's coming from. Jack remembers the chopper has heat sensors and radios Terry to fly back and try to locate the sniper.

He then glances at Kevin for a second and shouts: "Okay! I'm coming out!"

**CTU**  
Michelle is checking the satellite feed from the NSA server. To Tony: "Uh, yes. I accessed the NSA satellite feed. The area seems to be clean, but the pictures I've got are two hours old. You'll have to be careful, there are a lot of places people could hide at. I'll try to get into their surveillance system and check out the garage itself. That's the best I can do for now. Keep this line open, I'll get back to you."

**a car downtown**  
The man we saw drive off earlier, is still in his car, we recognize he is in the same area as Tony. Soon he closes in on the garage. He stops the car and looks around very carefully before entering the garage and driving down to the lower level.

**CTU Medical**  
Andre had gone on a quest. "Catherine...?" He approaches a nurse who is giving him a look but then points him to a room off to the side. "She's fine. You can go and see her."

"Hey!" He brightly greets his colleague. "Man you missed a show up there." There are a few stitches across her cheek. Blood spots dot her neck. "The boss man got into it with the other lady who came in today." Andre chuckles softly, though he's really just nervous. "You feelin' okay, Cath? My CP sparked but didn't blow like yours."

"Yes, I'm alright. I just had to get myself checked. Protocol, you know. But they think I'm okay to go back to work, so why don't we just head over there." She doesn't bother to smile, the stiches would just hurt anyway.

**the garage**  
Tony catches movement in his rearview mirror. Someone or something is coming in, it's time to proceed with caution. He waits and watches the car come to a slow crawl before he flashes his lights twice then opens his car door.

But he doesn't get out. Tony, weapon secure in his hand, waits for a sign.

The man in the car pulls up on the other end of the garage driveway, looks around and cautiously begins walking towards Tony's car.

**the compound**  
Jack is now up on his feet and slowly walking away from Kevin and out into the open.

"That's a good boy." , the voice sounds again. "Now get down on your knees. Hands behind your head."

Jack complies. Just then, another shot.

Jack turns his head in shock to see Kevin fall to the ground. "NOOOOO!"

**03:59:57 --- 03:59:58 --- 03:59:59 --- 04:00:00**


	9. Chapter 9

**The following takes place between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.**

**04:00:01 --- 04:00:02 --- 03:00:03 --- 04:00:04**

**The Compound**  
Terry sees it too. Kevin's down, but maybe not out. He also has something on the sensor panel in the chopper. A person crouching in the thick brush towards the clearing is visible. Terry swoops around fast. If this guy is willing to take out federal agents, he's got to get to him quickly. "Jack, I've got him." Balancing carefully, Terry dives and gets off one round, hitting the shooter in the back. "He's down! Fifty feet in front of you! I don't see anyone else!"

"Okay, keep him down!", Jack gets up quickly and runs at full speed towards the shooter. He finds him on the ground, face in the dirt. He feels the pulse on his neck. "Terry, he's alive. Get somebody to check up on Kevin now! How far out is that backup?"

Jack turns the guy on his back. The sniper is gasping for air, but at least he's still breathing. The bullet hit him in the side, an area unprotected by the flak jacket. He's bleeding heavily. It's clear at first sight that he's not going to make it.

Terry radios Lisa, "We've got to have C Team on site, asap! Where are they?"

Lisa checks the progress but..."Something's wrong."

"Excuse me?" Terry can't believe what he's hearing. "What's wrong, Lisa!"

"The team isn't going forward." And now that she checks her phone, she notices a message symbol. "I think we've got a problem. I'll have to call you back."

Terry radios Jack, "There's a situation with the back up. I'm waiting for Lisa's call."

"Jack!" Kevin pulls himself up from the ground, slowly. "Hey... ow," He's going to feel this tomorrow. One look at the hole in his shirt makes him grateful for the flak jackets they put on.

"Where's the shooter? Are you okay?" Kevin's ready for action.

**CTU**  
"It's been a crazy day, hasn't it?" Andreand Catherine are back at the main office area.

"We've got cross-refs to complete but I think we should really work on back up. That hasn't been done since all this happened." Together they survey the scene. Not too bad. Could have been much worse.

**Garage**  
Slowly, Tony exits his car and begins to walk towards the man. He notices the eye movement. This man's nervous.

"You said you had information. I'm here on your terms. Let's talk." Before removing his hands from his jacket, Tony pushes record on a pocket recorder.

**CTU**  
Michelle is now hacked into the surveillance camera system of the garage. She sees Tony approaching the man. She zooms in on the man's face and snaps a photo to later run it through the database for identification. She monitors what is happening. But she won't be able to reach him other than through his cell phone. Too late now. The meeting is under way. She sits there, hoping nothing will go wrong.

She quickly glances over to see Andre and Catherine walking back into the office. Good, he found her. They could really use all the help they can get right now. She turns back to the screen. Hopefully Tony can get some information out of this guy, whoever he is.

**garage**  
The man walks over to Tony. "First I want you to turn off the recorder that you're doubtlessly carrying. And I know that you are because I would do the same thing if I were in your place."

When Tony hesitates, he continues. "What I am about to tell you is confidential information and I don't want to be quoted on it."

**the compound**  
Jack is relieved to hear that Kevin is okay. "Over here!", he shouts. He has to try to extract at least some information from this guy before it's too late.

"I'm not gonna make it anyway Jack, so don't even try scaring me.", the guy speaks first.

"No, you _could _make it. We have a team arriving. If you give me information they can save you."

"And then what? Take me prisoner?" The guy coughs. "I'd rather die. You're a soldier, you understand that."

Jack understands this all too well... Maybe trying a different appoach can help. He pulls his gun and holds it up.

"It could take you hours to bleed out." It's not true in this case. This guy has minutes at best. But it's worth a try. "Tell me what Petrov is up to and I'll help you die quickly."

"No thanks.", the guy moans in pain.

"Come on, you can end this agony right now."

"It's too late Jack. You can't stop him." The man rolls his eyes as a wave of pain hits him.

"Come on stay with me.", Jack turns the man's head towards the center. "Where's my daughter? Where is Kim?"

No reply. Jack realizes this interrogation is nearing the end. There's one more thing he needs to know.

"Did you radio to anyone that we're here?"

The guy coughs again, but says nothing further. He's obviously drawing his last breath. Jack tries once more: "Do they know we're here?"

Jack's question still hangs in the air as the man's eyes go into a motionless stare and he exhales. They lost him.

"Dammit!" Jack gets up and walks over to Kevin who arrived in the meantime. "Glad you're okay."

Jack radios Lisa. "Lisa, I've got confirmation that Petrov is behind this whole thing. Other than that, we've got nothing so far. We're checking out the rest of the compound now." He gets up and gives Terry a sign to keep circling, then turns to Kevin. "Take the cottage, I'll take the main house. Be careful." The two men separate now, running off.

**The compound/ctu**  
"Kevin," Lisa radios to him on a separate channel, "someone's on to me. I think I know who it is..."

"Lisa, we can't be bothered by this. You'll have to secure this location. Get back up in here to start taking photos and setting up a perimeter. Keep George off our backs. Out." Kevin runs in a crouch up the hill to the cottage.

**Garage**  
Tony pulls out the recorder, shows it to the man, and clicks it off. "Total confidence and off the record. It's just me here and no one else. Now, show me your hands so I know we're clean." He doesn't want any surprises either. This guy's smart.

**CTU**  
George approaches Michelle, who is hard at work. "Act naturally." He smiles at Andre and Catherine who are returning to their work stations. "My entire system has been compromised. It's not a security issue, just a personal one but it's going to have to be dealt with." He hopes Michelle understands so that he won't have to go into specifics. "When I pull this person from her duties, I'll need someone else assigned. Do we have someone who can run field op surveillance?"

Michelle has had to quickly switch to another frame as George approached her. She didn't want him observing Tony's meeting. "Uh, George, look, if you have a personal problem with Lisa you have to put it aside. We need her help around here."

Ah ha, now he is getting somewhere. "Maybe I misspoke." George looks around and clears his throat. "Michelle, Lisa has broken the law. She stole my files, broke into an encrypted system. I need to know why she did it." He stares into her eyes. "Ten to one you know and you've been helping in some way."

**garage**  
The man grins. "Alright." They both know how to play the game. He lifts his arms a little, so that Tony can check him for wires and when he's done, he starts talking.

"Mr Almeida. My name is Burton, I'm with the CIA, as you may have found out by now. Earlier today, when AG Mills was assassinated, his briefcase was stolen. The briefcase contained a disc with our most recent intel on terrorist activities, locations and plans to apprehend them. I was working on coordinating the missions. I don't have to tell you what consequences this could have on our counter terrorist measures if it reaches the open market."

So there was a briefcase, Miranda's team was right. "We work with terrorist threats on a daily basis, Mr. Burton. If this disc is as important as you say, surely you would have a back up somewhere? The CIA wouldn't let sensitive information travel around with an unguarded man."

Burton rolls his eyes. "Of course we have a backup. That's not the issue here. This information leaking out would compromise every mission that is under way or planned to begin in the next six months. Mills wasn't even supposed to have it. I gave it to him and I'll take the fall for that. But that's not the only problem we have."

**The compound/**  
"Jack, we've got another body up here and empty water bottles." He checks Pat's pulse. Yep, dead. And then he sees something else which startles him. "Jack, you'd better get up here."

Kevin holds a charm bracelet in his hand. He hopes this means Kim's alive and hasn't been taken elsewhere.

Jack is in the main house. He finds Joey's dead body next to the door. From the two bullet wounds in the head and the position the body is in, Jack concludes he was obviously executed. Was this the undercover FBI agent who was helping Kim? Jack kneels next to him for a few moments and stares at him. "Thank you.", he whispers.

Jack buries his face between his hands. Hopefully Kim managed to escape anyway. Then he hears Kevin call him on the radio. "Okay, I'll be right there." 

Jack runs a hand over his face, gets up and, after taking one final look at the body, walks into the adjacent rooms to see if any clues can be found. He finds the receiver Nick had probably been using to communicate with him when he was wearing the earpiece. It's still here. The Petrov's are obviously not planning to use it against him again. As he walks out of the house and uphill to the cottage, it hits him: of course, they assume he is still held by the CTU for what he did earlier. Maybe that was the point of it all? To keep him out of the way...

He arrives at the cottage. "What have you got?" Kevin hands him the charm bracelet. Jack instantly recognizes it as Kim's. Emotions are taking over as he holds it firmly in his hand and tightly closes his eyes, forcing the tears that he can already feel coming back inside. Hopefully she got out. _Hopefully_ she did.

Kevin gives Jack a moment to himself and makes a brief sweep of the place. A few empty water bottles, a used wash cloth in the bathroom. There's dirt on it, like someone was washing up.

"Jack," Kevin stays to the side to not interfere, "this guy's dead. He's not dressed like the others. If she's anything like you, she probably left this for us." He passes Jack the washcloth then notices a small amount of blood mixed with the dirt. Kevin says nothing. A cut was probably why she was washing up in the first place - he hoped for Jack's sake that was all it meant.

**CTU  
**Lisa has just entered the main office area after having no luck getting through to her NSA contact. Something about an emergency meeting. Sure, whatever. Jackie has always willingly talked with her before and this only proved something was up. Now George was at Michelle's desk and she could only imagine what threat was being leveled against this woman who had done nothing but put her best foot forward all day.

But it wasn't time to give up.

Lisa contacts Terry for an update. "I don't know how long I'll be able to reach you on this line. Kevin has my private cell number. If you can't reach me at CTU, get that number from him. I always have that on."

"Got it. Listen, the shooter that I took out... he's dead. I've cleared the surrounding scene but back up still isn't here." Terry continued his routine sweeps overhead.

"I know," Lisa speaks softly as she watches George and Michelle, "There's been a problem. If you're not in immediate danger, I'm not going to chance things here."

"No, no. I don't see anyone else. Alive at least."

"Jack and Kevin? Are they?"

"Alive?" Terry chuckles, "Yeah, they're the only living creatures. Even the animals have left this place. It's real creepy. Looks like a fortress with a pathway leading up a hill to a road. Haven't gotten up there yet because it would take me out of visual range."

"Don't lose contact with them. Jack and Kevin may need transport any minute now and you're their only way out." Lisa watches George shift his stance. For a minute, it seems as if he's going to come her direction. "Got to go. Keep watch, Terry." She quickly ends the call and turns her back hoping George will not notice her.

**compound**  
Jack swallows hard. His mind is racing as he takes the washcloth from Kevin and notices the blood on it. The blood stain is too small to be from a serious injury, at least that's somewhat good news. But if they hurt her, he'd kill them. He swears to himself he will track them down and he will kill them.

If only he knew where to start looking.

Jack turns away from Kevin and fights to keep his eyes from watering. How could this happen twice in two years? This job was no good for a man with a family. He'd realized that. That's why he quit. That's why he tried to keep Kim safe. But once the walls you've built start to come down, they'll keep coming down no matter what you do.

**CTU  
**"It's hard not to take things personal when it comes to Lisa." George smiles at Michelle. "If I were you, I'd watch Tony carefully. Lisa tends to, well, play the field." He places his hand on her shoulder, "And that's not a person I'd want to help. I mean...if I were in your shoes..."

Michelle stares back at George. Of course she knows what's going on, but telling him about it is the last thing on her mind right now. She'd like to get rid of him somehow and continue monitoring Tony.

"George, right now, it doesn't matter what there was between you and Lisa and _my_ personal life is none of your business." Since he isn't reacting at all, it is clear he wants answers to his previous question and he won't back off. She holds his stare for a moment longer before continuing. "Look, I really don't know what you're talking about. But I do know one thing: this isn't the time or place to engage in a personal vendetta. I'm not sure you've noticed, but we're in a middle of a crisis right now and while we're doing everything we can to solve it..." she pauses and takes a breath. "I'm not sure what it is that you're doing to help."

**garage**  
There's more to this than just terrorist information floating around? Tony runs his hand over his face as he sighs. "Was Mills mixed up with something big? Why would you give him the disc if it was so sensitive? If this information being leaked isn't your biggest problem today, then what is?"

His frustration and anxiety levels have increased dramatically. "Give me specifics, something to work with, a name. I'm losing valuable time here." Tony starts back to his car.

Burton rolls his eyes again and shakes his head: "Mr. Almeida, wait. I didn't come here at my own risk to _withhold _information from you." Tony turns back, his eyes give away his impatience. "The disc also contained a hidden file about a project that's been officially aborted but somebody continued it in secret. It was-" Burton's voice breaks off as he falls to the ground, bullet wound in his temple.

**compound**  
Jack rubs his eyes and takes a deep breath. Standing around here won't help find Kim. He has to pull himself together. They need to leave. He puts the cloth in his pocket and turns to Kevin. "We gotta go. Come on."

Jack is the first one out of the cottage and is walking swiftly down the hill.

Kevin radios Terry to come in for a landing, "We're leaving. Let the back up team take it from here."

Bringing the helicopter down, Terry relays Lisa's message concerning the teams delay and one more item of interest. "When I was coming in, I noticed a vehicle up over the clearing, on the road. It was smoldering and appeared to recently been on fire. There were bodies, too."

Kevin glanced at Jack, "You want to take a look or go on?"

Climbing back inside the chopper, Jack replies: "Let the back up team handle that. From what Agent Brown had told me, that must be the FBI van they had sent to pick up Kim and their undercover agent. I found him executed in the main house."

**CTU**  
George nods in response to Michelle and maintains an even tone, "I'm trying to follow protocol, which is more than I can say for some people. My contact didn't show up and no one gives me the hourly updates like they should. Really I'm in the dark here. But I think the best thing might be to work with those who have a handle on what is going on."

With a smile, he adds, "Keep up the good work," and heads off in Lisa's direction.

The familiar footsteps cause her to turn around swiftly. "George..."

He holds up his hand, "You know what you did is illegal."

"I did it for the right reasons and the fact that I knew you'd never help me if I asked for a favor that involved Jack."

She is right. But he also knows she wouldn't just break rules without a legitimate reason. "Bring me up to speed, no one else here will."

A slight smile crosses Lisa's face for a second. "Um...well, what you need to know is Jack has reason to believe Nikolay Petrov is behind the Mills assassination. Tony and Michelle are primarily working on connecting the dots and following paper trails. Jack has other problems, though, and that's where I've come in." She's watching his face carefully. George is obviously uncomfortable but is listening. "Kim has been kidnapped by Petrov. Why, neither he nor we know yet." Lisa explains the reason behind the need for his authorization codes. "I need you to get the back up team back into play. George, I'm not doing this to spite you."

George makes a phone call. The team is moving in to secure the area. "Look...out there...what I said..."

"Don't." Lisa interrupts him with a shake of her head. "We're all under a lot of stress and we just need to focus right now. We can talk later."

**Garage**  
Tony has dropped to the ground and waits. From his vantage point, he can already see the blood pooling onto the cement. In a rush, he crawls to the man. No pulse. Tony has never felt such immediate defeat. He calls Michelle as he goes through Burton's pockets just in case there was anything useful. "Michelle, someone killed the guy right in front of me," Tony's voice is quick and fast, "He claimed to be Agent Burton, the CIA agent whose name you came across earlier. I'm looking for ID to confirm."

His mind is running with the information Burton provided earlier. That and the knowledge that, had he not turned back to his car, he would have been in the line of fire.

"Burton said Mills had a briefcase that contained a disc with sensitive terrorist information on it. Also on the disc is a hidden file that has information about a supposedly abandoned project continued in secret. That's all I got before he was shot. The disc and briefcase are missing." Hearing no footsteps, he decides now is the time to move.

"I'm coming back in." Crouching, Tony enters the car, starts the engine, and pulls away from the scene, "We've got a dead CIA agent, an assassinated government head, a dead Bulgarian terrorist, a dead neighbor of Mills', and a kidnapped 16-year-old. What is going on?"

**CTU**

Michelle switches back to the surveillance cameras. She sees the man Tony met on the ground, Tony's car driving towards the exit. There's no-one else in the garage. Whoever shot Burton, is already gone or hiding from the cameras very well. She is relieved that Tony's okay but warns him nevertheless to get out of there as fast as he can. "I'm sorry I didn't see the shooter in time, Tony. George was questioning me about what we're doing here and I just couldn't keep watching." She can't believe Tony almost got shot and she did nothing to protect him when she could have.

Michelle has run the photo she took of the man in garage through the database. It now yields a result. "Tony, I've confirmed the identity of the man, he was indeed Agent Burton, like he said. I'll start the search on projects that were abandoned by the Government in the last ten years, maybe we can find something. You get back here soon, ok?"

She calls up Catherine and gives her the assignment. Catherine protests a little, she was just starting to do the backup with Andre. Michelle hangs up and walks over to her. Today is not the day to argue.

"Catherine, just do two things at the same time. The search will run itself."

"But Mi-."

"Just do it! I'm giving you an order, I expect you to follow it." It is clear Michelle won't take no for an answer. Not now.

**compound**  
Jack is back on track and more determined than ever to find Petrov and his daughter. "We have another lead to check out."

The chopper rises in the air. They can finally see the back up team arriving from a distance. Jack takes out his panel and shows the address Michelle gave him earlier to Terry. "Take us as close as you can to this location. We're not going back to CTU yet."

**04:59:57 --- 04:59:58 --- 04:59:59 --- 05:00:00**


	10. Chapter 10

**The following takes place between 5 pm and 6 pm**

**05:00:01 --- 05:00:02 --- 05:00:03 --- 05:00:04**

**CTU chopper**

"Into L.A.?" Terry tries to visualize the location Jack has given him. Franklin Avenue. Residential area. Not many places to land a helicopter. "Jack, I don't know. We can probably get within a mile or two based on the tail roter span. It'll take that much to be safe because of all the people." Jack clearly isn't happy.

"Terry, we've got to get closer," Kevin intervenes to prevent any escalation in tone or emotions, "Time is of the essence and can't be wasted on getting to and from this bird. What if..." He turns and fumbles with equipment behind him, "What if we repelled down? Could you get us close enough to the address to let us down on the roof?"

That's an idea. "We're about five minutes away. I think that just might work. Get the belts on and make sure they're tight."

"That's alright Terry. That should be close enough." Jack knows the restrictions of flying and landing within the city limits. He straps the belt tight and waits for Terry's signal.

**CTU**  
Andre listens with rapt attention to Michelle. The tension has risen in her voice and Tony isn't back yet. "Catherine," he whispers across to her, "I can take the back up if you want."

But now George and Lisa enter together. All eyes are on the pair as CTU braces for another showdown.

"Listen up." George claps his hands to get attention. "We've got several operations going on at once right now. While I can't go into detail about most of them, what needs to be known will be shared. The Mills assassination is number one priority unless you are told otherwise. Lisa Elliott," he motioned to her, "has been given clearance to access our internal and external networks. She may also run operations as they apply to her specific needs. Lisa's work is related to the Mills assassination but also is very sensitive. I can't give any information beyond that. If she asks for your cooperation, give it to her. But for now, get back to work."

"Thank you," Lisa nods and holds out her hand to George. He chuckles at the gesture.

"We're beyond that don't you think?" He notices Michelle staring. "And now I need to contact Division. Hammond will want to slap someone's hand for this."

**Garage**

The search through Burton's pockets had yielded nothing more than change. He should go back for the car. Burton's car might have something else...

Tony makes a u-turn in the middle of the street and speeds back to the garage. Deserted as it was when he first arrived, the only other car is easy to find. Burton's body is still there which means the shooter could be around waiting. It was a chance he'd have to take.

He pulls up beside the car, exits, and enters Burton's car through the passenger's side. Inside the glove compartment is a CIA ID, badge, gun, and car registration. On the floor, a pay stub for another parking garage, this one near the railroad tracks on Bernard Street.

Tony phones Michelle, "Hey, it's me. I found a pay stub for a parking lot in Burton's car. It's on Bernard Street. What can you give me on that location?"

**CTU**  
Michelle quickly answers Tony's call. "Uhm... I'ts in Chinatown. Tony, are you back in the garage? Get out of there now, the place isn't cleared yet. Look, I'm gonna have to call you back. I need to deal with something first." She hangs up on him.

Catherine is grateful for the little diversion that the couple of the day provided for the office. It gives her time to take a breath and calm down. She was fairly new around here, and still had to get used to people yelling at her for following protocol, while the other way round would have been logical. She turns to Andre first and says in a low voice "Thanks, that would be great." Catherine gets up from her chair and faces Michelle. "Alright, where do you want me to start?"

Michelle sighs. She was taking it out on an innocent bystander, like Tony did on her this morning. It was wrong. She tries a smile to show she was sorry and stoops over Catherine's keyboard, typing away as she speaks.

"Here, I'll open a new directory for you. Start with all recently cancelled projects, especially the classified ones, and go back in time. As far as it takes you. I know I said earlier to focus on the last ten years but that just might not be enough, so just go futher, okay?"

Catherine is glad to hear a normal tone in Michelle's voice again. "Okay, and what type of projects am I looking for?"

"Just any Government or military projects that have officially been abandoned. Make a list and send it to my directory when you're done."

Catherine nods. "Of course."

"Thank you." 

Michelle then turns to Andre. "You're doing the backup?... Good, it hasn't been done for hours. Stick to it, ok?.. Okay." She takes a deep breath and walks back to her desk, sitting down and raising a hand to her eyes for a second or two, before returning to her work.

**CTU Chopper**

Kevin cinches his belt and joins Jack at the open edge. A thought crossed his mind that Lisa was right - LA saw more action than Sacramento could ever hope to see.

"Okay," Terry steadies the chopper, "On my count. One...two...three, down!"

Kevin follows Jack's lead downward. The roof is 15, then 10 feet below, then they hit. Terry pulls up and away as soon as the guys are clear.

**Garage**  
He knows he should follow Michelle's advice, but somehow Tony feels like he owes Burton. The guy just took a bullet because he was passing information. Michelle was strong willed, though.

Tony makes a call to Andre. "Put me through to Lisa. Don't tell Michelle."

Andre places Tony on hold then contacts Lisa. "Line 1."

"Lisa Elliott," she's surprised by the voice on the other end, "Is something wrong? Do you want Michelle?"

"No, I need you to do something for me." Tony glances around as he moves to the back of the car. "Get sat feeds for the last 8 hours of a parking garage on Bernard Street."

"Does this have anything to do with Mills and the case?" Lisa's already trying to reestablish contact with Jackie at NSA. If this is a fishing expedition...

"A CIA agent was trying to pass information to me but was killed before he could. " Tony pops the trunk of Burton's car. "Oh man. What have we got here?" A second shot rings out before he can examine the contents closely.

"Tony? What happened?" 

"Someone's still here!" Tony's down on the ground, scrambling towards Burton. What he's looking for isn't on the man. He crawls into the car, head down. The keys are still in the ignition waiting to be turned. He does turn the key and presses down on the gas with one hand, clutching to the steering wheel with the other. "Lisa, I'm bringing in Burton's car. I'll be there in ten minutes."

**CTU**  
Michelle glances at her screen. Tony's car is in the garage now, and has a broken window, possibly shattered by a bullet, but the other car is gone. The dead CIA agent is still on the ground, lying in a pool of blood.

She picks up the phone and calls a CSI team in, and someone to pick up Tony's vehicle. Then she calls up Tony. "Where are you? What's going on? Why did you go back to the garage, Tony? Your car has been hit, you could have been shot."

"Michelle, I couldn't leave." Tony is immediately sorry he caused her to worry, even for a minute. "Burton was killed trying to pass information and I had to know if he had anything with him."

He swerves onto a main road. "I'm within a couple miles of CTU. Before the second shot, I got a look in the trunk. We're going to need evidence bags."  
Catherine has begun the search. The list seems to be endless already. Some of the projects have been cancelled and restarted several times. The assignment given to her is proving to be a hard task.

She sighs a little and leans back in her chair, monitoring the process. Michelle is going to want this information ordered in some way. That's probably going to be the worst part of it...

**the roof**  
Jack and Kevin find a door leading into the building. It's locked. "Just a minute.", Jack says and takes out a tiny toolkit. He starts working on the lock, and several seconds later, the door is open. 

"Come on.", Jack motions to Kevin and they enter the stairwell. Jack looks around and at the ceiling. It's an apartment building. It doesn't seem to have surveillance cameras. They start moving silently down the hall, their backs sidewards to the wall. A small sign on the wall tells them they're on the 15th floor.

"We need the fifth.", Jack whispers and they continue down the stairs.

**somewhere**  
Nick and Mick are now sitting in an undergound facility, checking a map and discussing something silently, while other men in navy uniforms around them are busy setting up.

Mick gets a phone call. "Yes... We've had to move to the secondary location. We've had a problem, but it's been dealt with... Yes, that has been taken care of as well... She should be in position now. We're ready. Okay."

He looks like he's about to hang up, but doesn't. "Bauer? He's not a problem." Whatever the other person said next, Mick didn't like. He suddenly looks petrified. "Okay." He hangs up and turns to Nick.

"Bauer is free. We need to find Kim again."

**Apartment**  
The fifth floor... Kevin follows closely but takes his share of the load. There are corridors a plenty for people to hide in and no telling who could be around any corner. Jack's into this mission, the perspiration on his face tells all.

They are quickly on the tenth floor, ninth, "Jack," Kevin's voice is low. He readies his weapon and nods his head to the left where the staircase curls down. A metal clanging reverberates. A door closing? Could be nothing.

**CTU**  
Tony jerks to a halt in CTU's main lot, jumps out, and hustles inside.

"Tony!" Lisa starts to him but he seems to not see her or is ignoring her.

Tony immediately heads for Michelle. "Hey," he puts his arm lightly around her waist, "I didn't know if I'd see you again." Then he realizes what he said. "Heh, didn't know if I'd see anything again. I need to talk to you for a minute. Without Lisa."

Michelle leads Tony away from the garage. He didn't know if he'd see her again? "I was scared.", she admits. "But now I'm relieved. What is it you want to talk about?"

Rather embarrassed from the way he entered and acted, Tony tries to sound normal though he really is apologizing. "You're going to find out that I asked Lisa to grab sat feeds from your computer to hers."

Maybe Michelle isn't too surprised after all. "This morning... I got the feeling that the trust wasn't complete between us. That's my fault. I've been aloof for many reasons but today I've acted without thinking. Michelle... I didn't want to worry you and I knew Lisa wouldn't worry. I knew she'd do as asked. Are we okay?"

"We're fine, Tony. We really are." Michelle smiles. It's an honest smile this time. She feels like she owes him an apology as well. "Uhm, listen.. This morning, with the stolen data and all, I just... I wasn't sure who to trust. I might have been a little freaked out."

She's not going to tell him what she found. Not about the code she stumbled upon, not that the data disappeared apparently using his system. She's certain that Tony had nothing to do with it, but she wants to have it checked before she tells him what it was really about. "Tony, we have a lot of work to do. Jack and Kevin are still out in the field. They might be on to something."

**The apartment building**  
Jack listens for a moment but decides not to go after the sound. It's an apartment building, people go in and out all the time. "Keep the gun out of sight, but ready.", he tells Kevin. "We don't wanna scare anybody, alright?"

They are now on the fifth floor. They continue down the hall, to the apartment in question. Jack suddenly stops. "Codis. 51A. This is it." Jack takes a glance around, then knocks on the door. "Mr. Codis? Mr. Codis, are you in? We'd like to talk to you." No one is answering.

**secondary location**  
Nick summons two of the guys to his desk. "We need a location on the Bauer girl a.s.a.p. Finding her is your new priority. I don't care how long it takes or where you need to go to, just find her and bring her in." The guys nod and walk out of the room.

**Codis' Apartment**  
Kevin is against the side wall as Jack waits for an answer. "Mr. Codis," Kevin yells, "it would be best to cooperate." Should they pull the federal agent card yet? He's looking to Jack for that answer.

**the apartment building**  
A man opens the door oposite 51A. "What's going on here?"

Jack: "Sir, please go back inside. This is a federal investigation."

The neighbor persists: "Fine, but there's no one there."

"What do you mean?" Jack has now moved away from the door and towards the man. "Sir, if you know anything, you need to tell us. We are federal agents and we're looking for Mr. Codis."

Jack pulls out his ID. The man eyes it carefully, then glances at Kevin and back at Jack, who is growing slightly impatient now. "Sir?"

The man finally decides that he's stared at the ID long enough.

"Codis disappeared on me two months ago. Just like that. The sucker owes me the rent for the last four months. If you do find him, I'd like a word with him myself."

Now it's Jack who glances at Kevin. "You surely have a key, don't you? We'd like to take a look inside."

"Nah, he had the lock changed and I didn't touch it yet. Always thought he'd come back at some point."

"Okay, you've been very helpful." Jack moves one step closer to the man, almost forcing him to back off. "If you would kindly go back in now and lock your door..."

The man rolls his eyes, but steps back inside his apartment, shuts the door and turns the key.

Jack turns back to 51A. He decides quickly and kicks at the door. Once. Twice. The lock breaks. They're inside. The place hasn't been cleared of the furniture, but the thick layer of dust seems to confirm the owner's words. It hasn't been lived in for a while. They secure the rooms. No one.

"Kevin, if Codis disappeared, there's only two possible reasons. Either he's dead, which I don't believe, or he's mixed up in something that required him to become untraceable." But they both know that they need to find him nevertheless. "Kevin, take the bedroom, I'll check here."

**CTU**  
"Okay," Tony pulls out the garage stub and hands it to Michelle, "and this may be connected in some way. Burton was in Chinatown this morning, we know that. But, I found something in his trunk and I need to know exactly what it is." He starts heading for the exit and sees her hesitation. "I left it there so you could get a look in it's original context."

Lisa approaches quickly. "What's going on? Michelle's supposed to be doing cross-checks and Tony, you just got shot at."

"Let me take care of something and I'll be right back to fill you in."

Lisa isn't sure. "George is just starting to cooperate..."

"Then you cooperate. Please."

"Fine. But don't leave me out of the loop." Lisa gives Michelle a look. "Not where Jack's concerned."

**Codis' Apartment**  
Kevin takes the bedroom. The bed is void of sheets and the dresser has collected dust. The nightstand, though, hasn't been cleaned. He finds an empty cup, notepad, and then opens the top drawer.

"Jack, better get in here." The remnants of a second notepad are spread out to reveal a name and phone number. Kevin immediately contacts Lisa, "Heya, got something for you."

"I'll be right there", Jack calls to Kevin. He is checking the phone in the living room. Jack picks it up and pushes the redial button. He gets an automatic voice on the other line that informs him that there is no subscriber under that number. He hangs up again and walks over to the bedroom. "What have you got?" Kevin shows him the slip of paper. "Are you running a search on it already?"

"I've got Lisa on it but she hasn't gotten back with me. She sounded distracted." Kevin overstated the last part. "This guy isn't here so... exactly why are we still here, Jack? We could get a couple of guys over here, do an evidence sweep."

He waits for a bit but Jack doesn't answer. "Jack, why was the FBI taken out? The Bureau has good watchdogs. I used to be one of them. They don't send their men out without checking things first."

**Hospital where Kim is at**  
Heather gets up from a chair outside the room Kim had previously been in and walks over to a nurse. "Uhm.. I'm looking for someone. A girl. Kim. She was in this room and has been taken to X-ray some time ago. I haven't seen her since."

"Just a moment." The nurse checks the logs in the computer. "She has been transfered to another room. 21, on second floor."

"Okay, thanks." Heather takes Peter by the hand and heads to the elevator.

**somewhere on a plane, high above the ground**  
Two parachutists are getting ready for a jump. We can't quite make out their faces behind the goggles. They're done strapping up and sit on a bench, waiting for a signal. One of them glances through a window. The sun is pretty low, the light is getting dim. "Perfect timing, isn't it?" he says. "Off into the sunset, like the cowboys." He chuckles.

The other one nods briefly, but says nothing.

**CTU**

Lisa takes the information and types into Andre's computer which is the closest. "Kevin, I'm going to put you on hold while this runs." She next addresses Tony, who is still bound and determined to leave the office. "Just don't be running an operation by yourself that's connected with today's events. We don't know how many people they've killed and we can't risk any losses."

"Yeah, I know what you can't risk losing." Tony stares her down, recalling the interrogation earlier in the day. "I need Michelle to help me collect the evidence from Burton's trunk. We'll be back in ten minutes."

Michelle walks to the car, following Tony. "Okay, open the trunk."

**the plane**  
The altimeter in the cockpit reads 30 000 feet. "You're clear.", the pilot says after a while. The two put on their oxygen masks, then get up and take position by the edge of the plane, glancing towards the cockpit. "Okay. GO!", the pilot yells.

The one who kept silent, jumps out first, the other one follows close behind. The plane turns back as soon as they're in safe distance. The pilot radios someone: "The HALO team is out. Touchdown in approximately two minutes." He looks out of the cockpit window. In the twilight, the free falling silhouettes of the two are disappearing from his view quickly.

**05:59:57 --- 05:59:58 --- 05:59:59 --- 06:00:00**


	11. Chapter 11

**The following takes place between 6 pm and 7 pm**

**06:00:01 --- 06:00:02 --- 06:00:03 --- 06:00:04**

**CTU**

Tony lifts the trunk and reveals a brown paper wrapped package in an otherwise empty and clean environment. "Burton didn't mention it but I have the feeling this is something he was leading up to revealing. He had nothing else with him." He picks it up slowly, no ticking, that's good. "Do you want to open it or should I?"

"We can't open it. It needs to be scanned first. Call the security in."

**somewhere**  
The parachutists touch down and unsnap their chutes, and immediately drag them into the woods. Each using a small shovel, they start digging a hole to bury their gear, hiding it from view.

**Codis' apartment / CTU**  
Jack isn't in the mood for answering questions right now. Especially not if he doesn't have the answers. "Kevin, just do the job, okay? You know we don't have much time and it's no use wasting it waiting for a team." The paper slip in his hand contains more than a number, there's also a name. Apparently, Kevin hasn't got Lisa on that yet, but it needs to be checked too.

**CTU**

Michelle's cell phone rings. "Tony, just one minute, ok.", she turns around to take the call. "Yes?"

"Michelle, it's Jack. Look, I want you to run a search on a Annabelle Peterson for me. Likely somehow connected to this guy Codis."

"Okay, Jack. I'll need a few minutes before I can get to it. I'm on something else right now."

"That's fine. Call me when you've got something. How's the search on the government projects going?"

"I gave it to Catherine. It's still running. I'll keep you posted."

"Okay." Jack hangs up and turns to Kevin again. "Keep in touch with Lisa, see if she can get you anything on that number." He walks back to the living room, and begins to look for clues again.

Michelle hangs up and turns to Tony

"Was that Jack?" Tony can tell from her expression that it was. Just who was calling the shots around here? A guy on voluntary leave? She doesn't answer, so, he gives in, sighing. "Yeah, I'll have it scanned by security."

He stalks off towards the security office. In every possible place, Jack was there. Every way, everywhere. He gave orders and the people followed. Tony would never be like that, he would never have that kind of presence. "Guys, I need this scanned to see what's inside before we open it. It could have sensitive material so please be careful."

Lisa is standing down the hall watching Tony's demeanor with the package. "It doesn't get easier."

"What?"

"This job. It gets worse if you want more out of it but, hey, what do I know?" Lisa hands him a read out of the number she ran. "Kevin called this in and I'm about to call him back. It's nothing, at least not to me. He thought it was a phone number but the system doesn't recognize it anywhere in North America. The seven-digits could be a code but it'll take longer to figure out where from and what it's used for. You want me to call Kevin or Jack?"

That Lisa, somehow she has gotten into his mind too. Tony stares at her for just a second. "Call Jack."

Lisa dials and then leaves Tony with the package. "Jack, it's Lisa. I think we'd be getting somewhere if Kevin was here working the codes and evidence and I was there with you. The number he gave me isn't a phone number." She fills him in on what she knows and doesn't know. "Jack.. .I'm better out in the field... I can't stay cooped up much longer."

Jack: "We're coming back in soon. Just hang in there, alright? I need you at the office. Have you got anything on Kim yet?" Jack stays on the phone with Lisa, but keeps on searching.

Jack finds a datebook hidden behind a locker and turns a few pages. "Hey, Kevin!", he calls and walks over to the bedroom, still on the phone with Lisa at the same time. "I think I've got what we need. Codis has been following Mills' appointments of the last two months very closely. Looks like he's been studying his movements, looking for the best moment to hit."

Kevin glances at the book. "Where Mills has been, Codis followed. Shouldn't be hard to verify that with security tapes."

"I can get someone started on that." Lisa has been listening closely but she continues to question Jack as she jots down the information and passes it to Andre. "Jack, I've got nothing. We've kind of been on hold right now not knowing where to go and waiting for you to give us a go ahead."

Jack can't believe what he's hearing. On hold? Just what was going on in there? It's not like they had nothing to do. Was George stalling things again? "Lisa, we're coming back in. Give me an update on what everyone is working on." Jack puts the datebook in his jacket pocket. "Kevin, let's go." They leave the apartment and start walking down the stairs.

**CTU**  
Michelle walks over to Tony and the security guys. She sensed his discomfort. "Tony...", she pulls him over to the side, as the package is being scanned. "Tony, listen... I know how you must be feeling with Jack here again and people going around you on certain issues... but I want you to know that we're all on the same side here, we all have the same goal. There's too much to deal with today to let the personal stuff interfere with our work... Think you can make it to the end of the day?"

"I can make it till the end of the day." Tony looks at Michelle incredulously. Can she even be asking this question? It's not like he's Jack with this incredible personal life to look forward to.

"All clear." The security guard hands the package back to Tony. "Nothing toxic or flammable. The contents are small. Looks like a chip maybe."

Tony takes the package and thanks the guard. "We can open this at your desk. That way it'll be easy to process the information." Michelle wants to get back to work, they'll work.Michelle follows Tony back upstairs, to the office. She's not sure how things are going to work out with him and Jack. And she still hasn't had time to find out exactly what happened last night, hasn't been able to verify how the information left CTU using Tony's computer. Why wasn't he killed in the garage earlier? The shooter certainly could have shot him, he seemed to have gotten to Burton with easiness. Was Tony spared on purpose? She shudders at the thought.

That same feeling she had this morning overcomes her again. Was Tony a mole?

**hospital**  
Heather is in Kim's room, staring out the window, as the contours of the city begin to get lost in the emerging darkness. Kim still seems to be asleep. Peter is sitting on the floor, gazing at this girl on the bed. He seems to be getting impatient.

**CTU**  
Giving Jack an update on current projects isn't exactly easy as Lisa has really lost track of where everyone is since she has kept an eye on George and what he's been doing. "Um..." She glances towards the main floor, "Catherine's working on an assignment from Michelle, I've got Andre. Tony's involved with something..." Should she tell Jack? It's Tony's operation. On the other hand, it does involve Mills. "Tony's looking into information he got from a CIA agent who got killed while they were meeting."

Lisa makes her way to her main system and tracks what feeds have come through. "My NSA contact hasn't gotten back to me. We had a situation develop earlier that had to be controlled on this end but things have to filter through the system," she glances towards George's office, "if you catch my drift. The sat feeds are time-delayed so any heads up you could give me..."

Meanwhile, Tony breaks open the package and gingerly picks out the contents with tweezers. "Well, it's obviously a chip." He places it onto a reader and inserts it into his computer. "It'll take about five minutes to filter initial codes and then we'll know how much information is on it but we won't know what it is. Right now, um..." Tony glances around, "This is going to be something I'm on, okay? I don't want to drag anyone into a dangerous situation."

Michelle nods in agreement. "It's your lead, Tony. Okay. Look, I need to head back to my desk, alright? There's something I have to check up on."   
Michelle leaves and starts running the search on Annabelle Peterson. Hopefully she'll have something for Jack before he returns.

George watches Lisa's movements and glances briefly at Tony and Michelle. They each have others doing extra work for them but Lisa must have dispatched Kevin to help Jack.

But he had called Division and that had been a mistake. Brad Hammond was breathing down his neck for answers - why was Jack Bauer involved? Who had called him in? Why the hell was he still around, using valuable resources? What was the status of their investigation into Mills' death? The updates weren't flowing in the office and his altercation with Lisa hadn't helped. She wasn't sending any information to him - not that she ever had been, but she certainly wouldn't now. It wouldn't be easy to get on her good side once he had to confront Jack.

"Jack," Lisa pulls up a map of the area and plots locations for businesses and hospitals, "I'm going to take a chance that Kim has gone to a hospital. How long will you be? Are you making any stops along the way that I should know about?"

"Okay, that's good. Do whatever you can, Lisa." But Kim is obviously not the only one in trouble tonight. "Is Tony alright?... Who was the agent he was meeting?..."

"Burton. Michael Burton.", she answers.

That doesn't ring a bell in Jack's mind. "What is CIA doing meeting a CTU agent like that? They usually don't like sharing information. Okay, look, we'll be there in ten minutes."

Jack and Kevin are now in the garage, Jack is peering through the car windows as he passes them by. Was anyone forgetful enough to leave the keys inside? He could break in, but keys would be easier. "Listen, I'm gonna need a vehicle, I need you to cover my back with George, okay?" Jack hangs up after Lisa agrees.

They're lucky. Jack opens up the unlocked car door and gets in, motioning to Kevin.

"You'd think with all the crime in LA people would be more cautious." Kevin has to grin as Jack hotwires the car and drives it out of the garage. George wouldn't be a problem for him. Heck, he didn't seem as bad as he'd been made out to be. The trick now was to get to CTU in one piece. "About the Bureau... Jack, they don't do things in a half-hearted fashion. The only reason they would have gone into that place would be on a rescue mission or if the coast was clear. We've got a connection to Mills through Codis and Codis is connected to the military. Did someone in the military set up the Bureau?"

**secondary compound**  
John and Bill, the two guys that Nick assigned to finding Kim are in a car. "We'll start at the compound and go from there.", John says.

Bill agrees. "Yes, it's best that way. But the compound won't be empty. We'll have to be prepared."

**Palmer**

Palmer is waiting for his next meeting to start. Mike Novick walks into the room, giving him a meaningful look. "Mr. President. It's Sherry." Palmer sighs. Here we go.

He gets up, takes the phone from Mike and closes the door. "Sherry", he says neutrally.

"David, I cannot believe you're doing this. I agreed to separate but I never agreed to a divorce." She tosses the divorce papers on the table before her, loudly enough for him to hear on the other side of the line.

"Sherry, I can't trust you. And without trust, what's the use in staying together?"

"You waited until you moved to the White House to send your lawyer to me, David. You didn't even have the courage to tell the people-"

"The people, " he interrupts her, "are not in this relationship, Sherry. We are. No, we were. And it isn't working."

"You're wrong, David. The people are a part of it just as much. They have elected their President and their First Lady."

"No.", David says pointedly. "You keep your own counsel, Sherry. You are not fit to be First Lady. I will not allow you to scheme behind my back again. I've made that mistake once and I am about to correct it."

"Is that your final word, David? And think about your answer."

"Yes. It is." Palmer doesn't reflect one second before replying.

"Alright, then. This isn't over yet."

"You're wrong, Sherry. It is over. Here and now."

"You'll be sorry, David. Promise you that." Sherry slams the phone down and glares at the papers scattered on her desk.

"You want war? You can have it.", she mumbles.

**CTU**  
Lisa begins her round of calls to area hospitals. Sat transmissions are coming in fast and furious and now Terry has radioed that he's landing.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm looking for a 16-year-old female, possibly admitted within the last couple of hours. Her last name is Bauer, first is Kimberly." She waits a beat. "Okay, let me leave a contact number where I can be reached in case she shows up." It would help if she had a photograph. Lisa sighs and rubs her forehead. How would she get that? She promises to fax the photo as soon as it becomes available.

The second hospital yields no results either.

The third has a Kim but none with the last name of Bauer. There are Jane Does but, without a picture, no match can be verified.

Lisa ends her calls in frustration. Then she contacts Tujunga Canyon sheriff's station and explains the situation. "Can I have a deputy on standby in case I need transportation in your area for a search and rescue?...Great, thanks."

Michelle's acting odd but Tony can't worry about that now. Codes are appearing and they need to be routed to the correct decrypting locations. "Andre, what's the router for the International Monitary Fund?"

"2097X," Andre breaks from his screen and looks up, "Why?"

"I'll know later, thanks." Tony sighs - processing, decoding, waiting. It's tedious and time consuming.

Andre pulls up the sat feeds that have claimed a match to Codis' face. He cross-checks them with Mills and the other names thrown around during the day. So far, two matches.

"Michelle, I've got Codis on video at the same location as Mills in Santa Monica three days ago. They're in line at an ATM."

**driving to CTU**  
Jack is driving on a main road, thinking about what Kevin said. "I think this goes higher than the Bureau or the Military." It's a feeling, that's all. But something tells him he's right. Jack spots a police motorcycle in the rear-view mirror. The officer signals him to pull over. "Great. Just what we need."

Jack drives over to the side of the road and waits. He stole the car. This can't be about anything else. He could just hit the gas and let the CTU handle it. But he's not exactly on duty. He knows exactly what George would do and he can't risk it.

The officer leaves the motor bike behind the car and approaches the car window. Jack waits until the officer is by the car door, then suddenly drives backwards, crashing the motorbike and then quickly puts the car into drive and speeds away.

The policeman was momentarily caught off-guard. It takes him a few seconds to pulls out his gun and start shooting at the car tyres. But Jack is already too far.

**CTU**  
"Okay. Send them to my directory. Anything else?" Michelle glances at Tony but doesn't say anything. Then she picks up the phone. "Lisa, we've got a match on Codis and Mills. Is Jack on his way?"

"He should be here in a few minutes, I just got off the phone with him. Keep the information organized so he can access it quickly, okay? It sounds like things didn't go well at the compound."

Lisa is gazing at the screen before her as the sat feeds of the area around the compound start rolling in. A few miles off the main road there is a shot of a car stopping and the next shows a person getting out and helping someone up. She'll need to enhance it for better resolution but it looks like a pedestrian was hit. Maybe it's nothing.

Andre is pulling up files fast and furious. "I'm still working on the checks. Nothing else yet but I would bet we get something soon. There seems to be a time lapse between the first two so I'm going to start checking by that configuration."

And the routers keep rolling for Tony. So far he's getting nothing but information that will have to be decrypted. Dots and dashes and dots and dashes. Maybe... maybe Morse Code?

**Road to CTU**  
The policeman can't believe what just happened. "Oh he did not!", he thinks, taking out his radio. "This is Officer Johnson, I've got a 10-32 with that stolen vehicle. I'm following but need back up." Johnson brings his motorbike upright and gets moving. Someone takes down his bike, that boy ain't gettin' away with it.

"Could you have just stopped? Was that really necessary! You're only going to create problems we don't need!" Kevin is sick and tired of Jack's attitude, especially with this cop and why does Jack think he always has the answers? Lisa's not going to hear the end of this when they get back to CTU. If they get back...

"Uh...Jack? We've got company...", he turns to see, the policeman approaching them.

Johnson gains quickly then throws on his siren. "NOW! DO IT!" He's pointing his finger at the driver and motioning to the edge of the road.

**hospital**  
Heather is sitting on the edge of Kim's bed. She has a bad feeling about the whole thing. Kim had said she wanted to talk to her about something. It left her feeling uneasy ever since. And now they've given her this medication, she's sleeping and they didn't get to talk. "Peter, come here.", she calls to the kid, who was about to open the door and leave the room. "Sit." She takes him and puts him onto her lap. She's unsure what to do. Should she wake Kim up?

Then she remembers. A phone. Kim said she wanted to talk to someone. That's what she's going to do. She'll find a phone. Heather gets up and takes Peter by the hand, walks out of the room in search of a phone.

**stolen car**  
"Kevin, I don't have time for this. You don't like the way I handle things, you can get out right now!" Jack swerves towards the bike. The policeman dodges and returns behind the car.

"This is a stolen car. Where do you think he would have taken us? Escorted us to CTU and let us go? We don't have time to explain the situation to the police right now."

Jack hits the gas and overtakes vehicles randomly, driving like a roadhog. The motorbike has no problem following them.

**CTU**  
Organize the files. "Sure." If only I had that much information, Michelle's thinking. Not much to go on so far. The search on Annabelle Peterson is still running. She gets up to check on Catherine, when her computer returns a result. Five persons bearing that name pop up.

She sits back down with high hopes of finally getting somewhere. She checks the names one by one.

One of them is a 10-month old girl. Unlikely that's what they're looking for.  
Another one is a young teenager.  
Two others are deceased.  
The last one is 87 years old and living in Boca, Florida.

"Great. Nothing. Time and again. Nothing." Michelle bangs her fist on the table. More waste of time when they were short on time to begin with. She feels beat. Simply defeated. This was going nowhere. She buries her face between her palms and sighs.

**Following Jack and Kevin**  
"District 12, where is backup! This guy's going in and out of traffic!"

Johnson's doing his best to keep up as they come into more and more traffic on the highway. "I need to get a roadblock set up."

As he spouts orders, he fails to smell the gasoline that is trailing behind him.

**Stolen Car**  
"You're not even working for CTU right now!", Kevin yells at Jack. "Do you even know how much trouble -" Instinct takes over as a loud explosion interrupts Kevin, making him duck, hands over his head.

**06:59:57 --- 06:59:58 --- 06:59:59 --- 07:00:00**


	12. Chapter 12

**The following takes place between 7 pm and 8 pm**

**07:00:01 --- 07:00:02 --- 07:00:03 --- 07:00:04**

**Behind the stolen car**  
Traffic is pulling over, loud screams can be heard.  
"It just blew!"  
"I think he was in a chase!"  
Someone is calling 911 but it's too late. Officer Johnson's motorbike has failed to support him on his quest to catch a fleeing criminal.

The explosion is loud and rattles the car windows. Jack glances in the rear view mirror. A fireball in the middle of the street behind them reveals the end of their pursuer. Another good guy is dead and Jack's responsible for it. He feels terrible about it but he had to make a call and it was the right call at the time. He couldn't afford to get arrested right now. He glances at Kevin and says in a low voice. "Let's just get through this day."

Jack takes an exit off the freeway and heads toward the CTU building.

**CTU**  
George has exited his office to take a look at what has been happening and fill in Lisa on the information he received from Division, not that she'll be happy. But something else catches his attention for the moment.

"Michelle?" He approaches and gently puts his hand on her back. "You look pretty tired and I know it can be stressful around this place. Is there anything I can do to help? Run anything for you? Feel free to take 10 or 15 minutes." George's smile is sincere. Michelle is the only one who has ever been completely truthful with him.

Michelle looks up and takes a deep breath. "Thank you George. But I'm fine. It's just... We're getting nowhere with this and I was hoping to finally find out something... I guess I'm just a little frustrated. Thanks anyway." She smiles back at him. Maybe he isn't that bad after all.

"Are you sure?" George glances from her to Tony, who is working intensely on something. "You let me know if you need anything. And I mean anything. We can't afford to lose our best people today."

He strolls to Tony's desk, "What's up?"

"Waiting for codes to filter. It's a process, George. It takes time." Tony isn't in the mood to be questioned or to explain himself.

"Heard from Jack lately?"

"Ask Lisa."

Another stroll to another desk on the opposite side in a corner far away from everyone.

"Lisa-"

"Dammit, George!" She jumps, her hand to her chest. "You scared me to death. What?"

He cannot help but smile as the old, carefree Lisa appears for a second. "Division's not happy with what's going on but I think they'll forgive me if we give them something on Mills' killer. Where's Jack?"

"Coming back to CTU. I'm working on trying to locate Kim. I've called hospitals in the area and so far nothing. See this picture?" She points to the capture of the person being helped into a car. "I'm trying to focus in. It may be her. Other than that we're still cross-checking information Jack's gotten about a Mark Codis who has been trailing Mills for a couple of months. Codis has disappeared but Andre's tracing back his activities."

**Stolen Car**   
"A police officer just died." Kevin mumbles lowly and stares at Jack for a minute. It's almost as if this man has no soul. His eyes betray little emotion. Jack looks at him, but turns his eyes to the road almost instantly. And says nothing.

Kevin calls Lisa, "Yeah, we're coming in... about a minute away." His voice is low and it's obvious he's upset. But there will be time for that discussion.

"Kevin..." Jack stops at the red light opposite CTU, just like he did this morning. "In this job, you make decisions and you don't know if you've made the right call until the whole scenario plays itself out."

He remembers distinctly how Officer Hampton had made the call to help him. He tried to protect her. He failed. And now another cop is dead. The police won't love him for that.

"I did what I had to do and you know I wasn't planing to get that officer killed." He knows that Kevin won't understand. How could he? But at least it's been said.

The traffic light switches to green. Jack drives off and to the CTU garage, past Dave and into a visitor's parking space.

**CTU**  
Michelle gets up from her chair and walks over to Catherine. "Where are you on that list?"

"I've got about hundred right now. And counting."

Michelle sighs. That will take some time to process. "Okay, send whatever you've got to me. I need to see it. And keep looking."

"Alright."

**hospital**  
Heather is in a hallway, Peter holding her hand tightly. She spots a phone and walks over to it. She picks up the receiver and gets a tone. "Good.", she's thinking. "Kim will be able to make that call after all.", she mumbles to herself. She picks up Peter and carries him back towards Kim's room.

If she isn't awake by now, she'll wake her. An intense feeling overcomes her that they should be getting out of there as soon as they can.

**CTU garage**  
Kevin says nothing to Jack as they return to where he should have remained in the first place. With a look of disgust on his face, he stalks through the entrance to Lisa who is with George - there's another surprise. "You just keep unfolding like a flower."

"What?" Lisa senses his attitude. It is quite unusual for Kevin to be unhappy or irritated. "What's wrong?"

"Why don't you ask him?" He points to Jack. "Anyway, Kim was at the compound. I found her bracelet and a washcloth with blood so she might be injured. Nothing else except a lot of dead bodies." Jack is getting closer now. "Leese, I'm leaving, going back to Sacramento. You can handle this without me."

"Kevin, wait!"

"Jack," George stops him as Lisa follows Kevin, "My office. It's not a request. Let's go."

"Fine." Jack answers curtly, as he watches Lisa walk away with Kevin. That guy was probably good in the field but he would never understand. Or maybe he would, once he had to start making sacrifices.

**CTU main office  
**At 1500 test servers, the IMF router stops and pops up with an error message. No matches. That's not possible. The configurations showed a sequential match to IMF accounts. Tony starts the run again then opens another socket to begin a run of numbers to match with telephones.

"Michelle, is there anything else that could have a similar sequential match to International Monitary Fund accounts?"

"I don't know..." Michelle walks over to Tony. "It could be a false trail. Let me take a look at that." She starts typing on his keyboard. "Maybe it's just a wrong code or something."

**CTU **

Jack follows George upstairs. All eyes are on them again as they enter the main office area. Michelle looks up, too. Seems like it's not the moment to talk to him.

**hospital**  
Heather enters Kim's room and closes the door. She sets Peter down in a chair and tells him to keep quiet. Then she walks over to the bed and gently touches Kim's forehead. She doesn't seem to have a fever. At least that's good. She'll be drowsy, though. She sits down beside her. "Kim.", she whispers loudly. "Kim, wake up."

The voice calls her back from the drug-induced sleep. Kim blinks her eyes to focus. It takes a moment... where is she? What happened? She glances towards the end of the bed and sees her wrapped ankle. The accident. And this woman... Heather?

"A phone? I need to call..." She struggles to sit up but is still to drowsy to complete the task.

"The phones are working, I checked. But I don't know if we have time for that. Kim, we need to leave. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I have a bad feeling about this place."

Kim can hear the worry in Heather's voice. After finally sitting up straight, she nods in agreement. "Okay..." Gingerly, she edges off the bed and finds her footing. "Where are we going?"

"We're leaving." Heather grabs Kim's clothes from the chair nearby. "Let's get you dressed. It will look less suspicious."

**George's office**

George shuts the door behind them and then closes the blinds. "Sheila, hold all my calls." He waits for Jack to sit down before beginning.

"It's been an interesting day around here, Jack. We have a dead political figure who's assassin is on the loose, the FBI had several men wiped out, I hear that a lead you were following has vanished, and your daughter is still missing."

George leans back in his chair, hands clasped together. "You don't like taking orders, well, I don't like my employees being insubordinate. It causes problems and dissension in the ranks. I'm in charge here and I've been left in the dark, that doesn't set well."

George walks to the closed window to glance out briefly. "Jack, you've walked this line too many times. I can't let you do it again. Division knows what's going on. Thanks to you, Lisa is in danger of being brought up on charges."

He turns to him, "Did you know she downloaded passcodes and sensitive information from my computer? That's a federal offense, even if she's helping the great Jack Bauer. So, you've got to ask yourself... Do I let a sanctioned agency do their job and find my daughter? or Do I take down everyone around me while pursuing my own agenda?"

Jack glares at him. Yes, they've been there before. It's true. But they won't have Lisa on a charge. He wouldn't let that happen. "Lisa was working under my orders. Whatever she did, she did it because I asked her to. I'm taking full responsibility for that." Jack pauses. "George. You know I had no choice but to do what I did. And this whole thing - it isn't over yet. Nobody knows what these guys are up to."

Jack stands up and walks over to George. "Let us find out what's going on. You know I can help. Let me help."

George glares at him, processing, calculating risks and benefits in his head.

**CTU**  
Michelle is still working on that chip. "It doesn't look good, Tony. There's one more thing we can try here, but if we can't crack this, the whole operation was worthless."

"I didn't get shot at for nothing." Tony steps away to let Michelle work. Burton was killed. He wouldn't have given his life for a chip that was worthless. Unless he didn't know it was worthless.

"Could they be map coordinates? Anything? What if we break them down? Do any strings of numbers repeat?" Tony is thinking aloud.

"I'm trying, Tony. I can't tell."

**George's Office**  
George finaly shakes his head, "I've got dozens of agents qualified to help, in the field or in the office. They've all been trained to deal with these situations and now Kevin is leaving, that eliminates one field op agent on loan. You aren't the only person who knows how to run a tough investigation. What do you think I was doing the years we worked together? I wasn't just sitting back twiddling my thumbs."

He moves away from Jack and picks up his phone. "We'll find Kim, but you don't seem to trust anyone to do that. We'll find the person who killed Mills but you don't seem to trust us." George calls Sheila, "Send up Lisa Elliott." He shakes his head as he hangs up, "You were good, Jack. But you're grieving and that's not good to have hanging on your shoulders when you're at work."

Bang! Those words coming out of George's mouth. They feel like a dagger through his heart. Of course he's grieving, but that doesn't mean he can't do the job. Jack gets up and stares George down coldly.

"George, think. These guys kidnapped Kim to make sure I'd blow up our communications system and our server. But we had it back up within the hour. Why do you think they did that? Why bother? Don't you think they knew we could bring it back? Why didn't they bug me before I got here? Why give me the chance to save our data? Because it never really mattered. I was brought onto this because they wanted me out of the way. They were counting on CTU taking me into custody. If I _was_ good and I'm such a failure now, why do you think they'd even try to keep me off their tail?"

Jack pauses. His eyes intimidating now. He points a finger to George. "You take me off the case now, you'll be doing them a favor."

**Hospital  
**Dressed and ready to go, Kim follows Heather and Peter to the edge of the door. "I don't think I can walk that fast." Her ankle still hurts and the medication has not completely worn off.

Heather glances around. "That's okay. We'll just go slowly. Take Peter's hand. Let's try to keep a low profile."

**CTU - Tony & Michelle**

"Okay..." Tony can't help but be impatient. Then he sees Lisa start up the stairs to George's office. He nudges Michelle to look. "The three are finally together again."

Michelle smiles a little. "Yes. Guess they are." Hopefully Lisa really is on Jack's side. Then she turns back to the screen. "Tony, this thing is going to be hard to break through. See, here." she points to a row of numbers on the screen. "The routing codes aren't right, I don't think we can do it from our workstations. We need a decoding specialist on this."

"And that'll take several more hours of time we just don't have." Tony pulls the chip from the computer. He doesn't even know where to turn on this. "What about the lead you're working on? And the information Lisa gave Andre?"

Andre throws up his head, "Codis followed Mills everywhere - even to his kids' school. We need to find where he is now, though, and that's what I'm currently working on. I've got possible matches and they're being filtered through for the best ones. Should be ready to go through in about... 15 minutes?"

"I guess I'll run Burton again, see if he's connected to Codis."

**George's office**  
"You've got an amazing sense of self-importance.", George started. But a knock on the door prevents him from getting any further. "Enter!"

"George, whatever it is..." Lisa unconsciously bites her lip at seeing Jack. "Jack, Kevin told me about the officer. He understands it wasn't your fault."

"Wasn't his fault?" George closes his eyes. With a sigh, he takes a seat again. Sounds like he'll be getting a phone call from some angry LAPD captain. "Let's get back to why we're all here. Jack, it's possible Kim was in the wrong place at the wrong time and happened to get you mixed up into something. What proof do you have these men want you out of the way?"

He glances at Lisa, who is still standing at the closed door, "Jack now says what he did didn't ever really matter. It was all just a ploy to get him arrested and off the bad guys' tail. Right, Jack?" George is staring at him. "Did I cover it?"

Jack smirks. "You certainly don't believe that everything that happened today was a coincidence?" He glances at Lisa for a moment, then faces George again. "By the way, George. Where were _you_ while I was in here? When your staff really needed you? I picked up that you were following a lead of your own, one that turned out to be a wild goose chase. What are the chances a fake source wants you out of CTU at the very same moment I'm supposed to sabotage our systems? Let's say, just for argument's sake, that the point was to have you go down as well because you couldn't stop me? Because you weren't there? Because you followed a phone call no-one ever heard and chased a source no-one ever saw. Would that make sense? I think it might.", Jack ends and leans back in the chair.

"He's pushing me, Lisa." George is now leaning forward on his desk, tapping a pencil. "Let's just say, for argument's sake," his stare is icy, "that this someone also wanted Sacramento involved and this someone knew Lisa would jump at the chance to get back into this office-"

"George..."

"No, no," he holds up his hand, "remember this is just for argument's sake. Let's say this was true and that person knew there would be too many distractions to keep us focused, would that make sense?"

Lisa can tell Jack is about to explode and this is only making George happier. She walks to the empty chair beside Jack, "I'm following leads to find Kim. I'm the only one on that. Everyone else is working on Codis, Agent Burton, The Attorney General...we're all doing what we should be. Let's leave it at that."

"Jack, is this a distraction for you?" George ignores Lisa. "Is Kim's kidnapping a distraction? Is Teri's death a distraction?" He stops and smiles, "Is Lisa a distraction?" George is pulling Jack's strings, waiting to see when he'll snap.

Jack heard Lisa's words, but never moved his eyes from George. He slowly walks around Lisa to George's desk, never losing eye contact with him. He stops opposite George and places both his hands on the desk, leaning forward. "You're the only distraction, George." Jack speaks slowly and calmly. He's not going to give George what he wants. Won't let him win this one. Jack stares him down for a few endless seconds, then continues. "Everyone is focused. Including me. If you're going to stop me from doing my job, I suggest you put me in cuffs. Otherwise, I'm out of here. There's work to do out there and sitting around here is not getting it done."

**hospital**  
"It's alright. Just a little longer. We're almost out." Heather can already see the exit ahead.

Then, someone calls to them.  
"Miss! Hold on!"

Kim's eyes widen with fear. She looks to Heather for help. There's no possible way she could run fast enough down the stairs to get out before security was called. Kim decides to take a chance.

"Yes? Me?"

"Yes." A man is standing behind them. There's something in his hand. "You dropped this." It's a small paper bag and he's holding it up for her to see.

**George's Office**  
Lisa puts her hand on Jack's arm, "We'll continue to work. Come on, Jack. I need to show you what I've got on Kim."

"Get him out and start babysitting. Anymore screw ups," George points his finger in Jack's face, "You're gone. I don't care if your daughter is missing or not."

Not the time or the place but Lisa intended to finish what George started. She holds open the door for Jack. "At my workstation, corner right office."

Jack stands up straight and gives George one last glance before heading for the door. He won't screw up. But not because George is threatening him. "I'll be there in a minute.", he says to Lisa. She's staying behind anyway. So Jack heads downstairs, and to Michelle and Tony to get an update.

Lisa closes the door behind Jack, stays where she is, and faces George.

"I'm only going to speak once and then it's over."

George shakes his head. "He's a broken man who doesn't need to be here. How could you not see that?"

She clasps her hands infront of her. "You're a fool and you've made a fool of yourself before everyone. You owe your job to Jack and you can't even treat him with the smallest amount of respect. I'm shocked at what a little man you have become, but I'm glad that I don't have to deal with you anymore."

Lisa walks calmly down the stairs and over to Jack, who is speaking with Tony. "Jack, we need to talk." There is a glance from Tony which makes her add, "Privately."

**somewhere**  
In the darkness surrounding them, the parachuters are approaching a high fence. KEEP OUT! NO TRESPASSING! and similar signs are everywhere. It is without a doubt a military institution.

Suddenly, they hear footsteps from behind. The man turns around and fires a shot, sending a silhouette to the ground. The woman instinctively dives. Another shot comes from somewhere in the darkness, killing the man. Within seconds, a unit emerges from the bushes around them and all are pointing their weapons to the woman's head. "GET UP! UP! NOW!"

**07:59:57 --- 07:59:58 --- 07:59:59 --- 08:00:00**


	13. Chapter 13

**Previously on 24**

Police officer chasing Jack and Kevin: "District 12, where is backup! This guy's going in and out of traffic!"

Officer Johnson's bike explodes. The explosion is loud and rattles the car windows. Jack glances in the rear view mirror. Jack takes an exit off the freeway and heads toward the CTU building.

Michelle gets up from her chair and walks over to Catherine. "Where are you on that list?"

"I've got about hundred right now. And counting."

"Leese, I'm leaving, going back to Sacramento. You can handle this without me."

"Kevin, wait!"

"Jack," George stops him as Lisa follows Kevin, "My office. It's not a request. Let's go."

Heather: "Kim, wake up. We're leaving."

janitor: "Miss! Hold on!"

Kim: "Yes? Me?"

"You dropped this."

George: "You were good, Jack. But you're grieving and that's not good to have hanging on your shoulders when you're at work."  
Jack points a finger at George. "You take me off the case now, you'll be doing them a favor."

George to Lisa: "Get him out and start babysitting. Anymore screw ups," George points his finger in Jack's face, "You're gone. I don't care if your daughter is missing or not."

Lisa: "I'm only going to speak once and then it's over. You owe your job to Jack and you can't even treat him with the smallest amount of respect. I'm shocked at what a little man you have become, but I'm glad that I don't have to deal with you anymore."

Lisa walks calmly down the stairs and over to Jack, who is speaking with Tony. "Jack, we need to talk. Privately."

...

Two parachuters in front of a military institution are ambushed. One of them is killed, the other one captured. "GET UP! UP! NOW!"

**The following takes place between 8 pm and 9 pm**

**08:00:01 --- 08:00:02 --- 08:00:03 --- 08:00:04**

**Hospital**  
"Oh...um..." Kim takes the bag and thanks the man. "That was close," she mutters for Heather to hear, as the janitor turns away and leaves.

They finally exit the hospital, Peter still holding her hand. "Where are we going?", Kim whispers, glad to be out in the fresh air again, though she anxiously glances around her in the emerging darkness.

"I don't know." Heather feels relieved to have left the place, but she suddenly feels lost. She shakes her head. "I don't know, let's just get out of here." She opens the car door for Peter and hushes him inside. He cudles the puppy again and finally looks all happy. Then she helps Kim get in. "You wanted to talk earlier. What was that about?"

Kim shakes her head, "I don't know if it would even make sense. I've been in trouble and didn't want you and your son mixed up in it." Heather gets in the car and they start driving. "But I need to get ahold of my dad. He thinks I'm still in danger and he's looking for me."

"Okay.", Heather turns to her bag, reaching for something but then sighs, having remembered something. "My cell phone died on me earlier today. I think it's best if I take you to my place. You could call from there. Okay?"

A dead cell phone. That wasn't a good start to this journey. "Thanks for your help, Heather. As soon as I know it's safe, I'll explain everything. I just don't want to involve you any further."

"We're already involved. Somehow I feel responsible for you. I can't just walk away."

**CTU**  
"I'll be right back, ok?", Jack excuses himself and follows Lisa to her office. He sighs. If this is about the past, it's just not the time. "Okay. I'm listening."

When they're out of earshot, Lisa apologizes. "I came here with an agenda having no idea you would be involved." The words make her chuckle immediately. "I feel so stupid. My point was to show George that I could handle more than he or anyone else gave me credit for and to do my best to make him uncomfortable. But now..." Lisa folds her arms in a protective manner, "Now that doesn't matter."

She glances away for a second, then continues. "All I see now is that I want to help someone I care about. I want to protect that person from being hurt again and I can't do it because of the mistakes I made in my personal life. George is right, though." Now her eyes are focused on him, "There is a distraction. I'm sorry, Jack."

"Shhh, it's okay..." Jack takes a step forward and hugs her. They're quiet for a few seconds.  
Then Jack whispers. "You've been a great help today Lisa. I needed you and you were there for me, I'll never forget that. I won't let you take the fall for what you did to help me out." She leans her head on his shoulder and he runs his fingers through her hair. "You're not a distraction."

There is a moment when she knows she shouldn't but Lisa ignores the knowledge and blatantly crosses the line. She turns her face upwards, eyes meeting his, then she closes hers. Lisa kisses him softly. He has yet to move her away. One hand encircles his neck as they kiss again.

Then, like lightning, it hits her - she can't do this. Teri died here. Jack's wife died in this place. "I...I'm sorry..." the words sputter from her lips as she tries to hide her embarrassment.

It's wrong. Jack knows it's wrong. But the feelings he had for Lisa years ago are suddenly back. Maybe they were never gone. He can't help it. He pulls her closer and kisses her again voraciously. For once, his feelings are stronger than his mind.

"Lisa?" Tony's voice suddenly fills the room. Both Jack and Lisa are looking at the door but see no one. Again, his voice is heard. "Lisa, if you're there, pick up."

The phone. Unwillingly, she pulls away from Jack and answers the call. "I'm here, Tony."

Jack runs his hand over his face. What just happened here? He closes his eyes and shakes his head lightly, pulling himself back to the reality of this room.

Tony notes her voice sounds odd but says nothing. "You've got a call on line 1. It's a hospital you called earlier wanting to know if you had anything further on Kim."

Kim. Back to the main focus. "Okay...thanks." She turns back to Jack not knowing what to do, say, or...even if what happened really happened. "Um...do you have a picture of Kim I can fax to the hospitals? For identification."

"Yeah, sure." Jack takes out his wallet and holds out a photograph of Kim, handing it to Lisa. "Here, you can use this. Thank you, Lisa."

He gives her a glance, but can't look at her. He shouldn't have let this happen. Jack stands there a moment longer, then turns around quickly and walks to the door but stops before he leaves, his back to Lisa. "Pull yourself together Jack", he orders himself. "There's work to be done."

...

Michelle is filtering through the list Catherine put together. A lot of stops and gos in the projects. It could take days to find the right trail if they don't get a tangible clue sometime soon. She glances towards Lisa's office. Hopefully Jack will be out soon.

**Heather's car**  
"It looks like we're running out of gas, Kim. I'm gonna have to pull over at the next gas station."

"How far can we go?" Kim doesn't like this area and doesn't want to stop if they don't have to. "Heather, can we get to your house and then call someone to fill up your car there?"

Heather chuckles. "No, I don't think they do that... Look, I'm feeling just as uncomfortable as you are, but it's probably better if we've got a full tank.", she smiles nervously. "Maybe we're both just being a little paranoid... I really don't think we can go far, certainly not to our place. I don't live around the corner, unfortunately."

Great. How far does this woman live? Kim sinks down into the seat. "Maybe try to make it as far as we can at least. That'll give us a good head start."

**CTU **

Lisa places the call to the requesting hospital and faxes Kim's photo using the machine in the room. "You have my number...Yes, if you find any matches even similar, call. Thank you."

Jack notes her call only marginally. He had turned towards the door again, avoiding her until he got a grip on himself again. He wasn't in the least expecting this to happen. But now that it has, he's afraid to face her.

The call ended, silence once again takes over. She forces herself to turn around but Jack is headed for the door. Great, she's blown it before it has begun - if there ever was an it to begin with. "Jack..." Lisa starts but doesn't continue. He probably doesn't want to talk. It's best to let him go.

He doesn't quite know what to to about it. And he's not sure if he could control himself if he turned back. But he can't just leave her standing there like that, either.

Jack turns around slowly, but leans his back on the door. He looks up from the floor . Lisa is looking quite as helpless as he is feeling.

He tries a smile. "Don't..." It's stupid, but he just can't think of anything better to say. Yet her eyes are on him, asking for a reaction. Jack takes a deep breath before slowly walking over to her desk.

"Lisa..." Jack feels like there's nothing to say. They've crossed the line and words just seem so useless. He's speaking softly. "This can't stand in the way... It won't, alright?" He knows it's not going to be that simple. But it has to work out. "Okay? We need to find a way to focus. We're pros, right?" He smiles. Hopefully she'll understand.

Jack's right, as usual. They would be professional and continue. She steps forward and makes it near the door but stops. "Well...for an 8 out of 10, I guess we can be pros."

Lisa grins at the look on Jack's face and is glad she broke the tension. "There's work to be done, Agent Bauer."

**somewhere inside the military compound**

The woman is led into a large building on the premises. A guard pushes a button and a door opens automatically. It's a heavy door, leading into a cell with only a faucet and a toilet bowl.

She is forcefully pushed inside. "Stay there!" someone shouts at her.

"Yeah, like there's anywhere I could go.", she mocks and remains standing in the center of the room, as the heavy door closes behind her.

When she hears the sound of the footsteps fade away, she silently speaks: "I'm in."

On the other end of the receiver, in the secondary compound, Mick is listening. "Good. Well done." He smirks at himself. Nick walks in.

"She made it.", Mick informs him. "And we're right on schedule."

Nick nods. "Good. That's great."

Back in the lockup, the woman takes a seat on the floor in the corner of the room. As she lifts up her head, we can finally recognize her face.

It's Mills' Nanny.

**Sherry**

Sherry Palmer is on the phone with Mike Novick.

"There's nothing you can do right now, Sherry. "

"I'm not giving up all those years of supporting him-"

"I'm sorry to say this, but it was all over months ago. He lost his trust in you completely, he is never going to try again. You should sign the divorce papers. It will be easier for the both of you."

"Mike, you're his Chief of Staff. Technically, you're still working for us, not just David. Can't you just talk to him?"

"I'm sorry..."

"Then I hope you enjoy the free fall he is going to head for when the headlines make the news tomorrow." Sherry hangs up. She's furious. Sign the papers? She'd rather burn them.

**CTU main office **

Reentering the world of CTU is a shock to the system. The hum of the computers is loud in Lisa's ears as she crosses the room to Tony's desk. "The meeting you had downtown... did you come back with anything?"

"Nothing yet and were not sure there will be anything useful." Tony glances over her shoulder at Jack who is coming up behind. "The hospital have anything on Kim?"

Lisa shakes her head, "I think we're getting closer. The high-res images should be finished downloading. Just wanted to check in with you first."

"I can't show you what I don't have.", Tony shakes his head in frustration.

"Understood. Keep trying." Lisa passes Jack as she returns to her office.

**Heather's car **

Peter is getting worried and the look in his eyes isn't comforting. "Hey..." Kim gently pats his hand, "Everything's going to be okay. We've just got some grown-up stuff to figure out."

He smiles at her and cuddles his puppy.

**CTU**

Jack walks over to Michelle for an update. She tells him what she does and doesn't have on Annabelle Peterson, then shows him the list Catherine has been working on. Jack takes the printout, scanning through it.

"Somehow all this is connected. Mills, Codis, Burton and everything else that happened. We're only looking for a missing link here. The core piece of the puzzle..." Jack's thinking aloud.

Michelle says nothing. If it were just one piece that was missing that would be nice. But this whole thing looks more like they only had random pieces and most of them didn't fit.

"Michelle, try codenames, aliases, anything else that Annabelle Peterson could mean. Codis didn't just happen to write that name down just like that."

Michelle nods. "Sure. Uhm... There's something else. Tony got a chip off Burton, but we haven't been able to decode it yet. The encryption doesn't respond to any of our decoding programs."

"What are we doing about it?"

"I'm not sure. I suggested bringing in an external contractor but I don't know if Tony wanted to do that."

"Okay, keep working on that name."

"Alright."

Jack walks over to Tony. "Tony, what's with that chip you took off Burton? Who's working on it? Any results yet?"

Tony crosses his arms, "No one's working on it, Jack. It's like I've told everyone who's questioned me about it - I found it, we've tried to get something off of it, and there isn't anything except for random strings of numbers that our filters can't put together. We've tried international codes, routers, accounts, you name it."

Before Jack can answer, they're interrupted by Andre. "Tony, Mills' nanny didn't complete her duties today."

He looks towards Andre, "What?"

"I've been locked into the security cameras at Mills' house since we got this. Back footage shows the nanny leaves every day at 11:30 to pick up his two kids from their school at noon. She didn't do it today. I've been waiting to see if I missed something and the kids were picked up by a driver because of the assassination but no one has come back to the residence with them." Andre is scrolling through still shots quickly. "After the assassination, I can't find her in any frame."

Tony glances at Jack then directs a question to Andre, "Do we have a name on her?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Michelle and Lisa have just had me working security cameras and cross-checking Codis with Mills."

This new information raises a red flag immediately. Jack walks over to Andre's screen, Tony following close behind.

"This is it. This could be what we're looking for." Jack's voice is suddenly optimistic, finally they could be getting somewhere.

"Michelle," Jack calls to her, "You have a list of people working for Mills?"

"Yeah, sure." Michelle grabs a list from her desk and brings it over. "Here you go."

Jack takes it hastily. "Thanks."

"Sure."

All three of them view the list. Then Jack points to a name. "There she is. Kelly Simmons. Michelle, get me her profile. If she's somehow mixed up in this, now is the time to find out."

**Heather's car **

"Kim, look, there's a gas station right after that traffic light. If you were in trouble earlier today then someone could still be after you and frankly, it's better to have a full tank than an empty one. Let's just go fill her up."

Heather stops at the traffic light and gives Kim a questioning look.

**looking for Kim **

The guys that are after Kim, Bill and John, are driving down the same road Heather took a few hours ago, when she hit Kim. "Stop!", John shouts. "Back up!" Bill does as told.

John exits the car and walks to the side of the road. He stoops to pick up something and then looks around. Skid marks on the road. Might be fresh. And right where he's standing, it looks like a car drove through the grass.

John walks back to the car. He's holding a tissue in his hand that has traces of blood on it.

"This looks like there's been an accident recently. Where's the nearest hospital? Let's go check there."

**Heather's car **

"Okay." They couldn't very well go anywhere without gas and Kim's ankle, though not broken, was still hurting. It was a chance they'd have to take. "I'm going to run in and see if they have a phone."

While Heather parked and started pumping, Kim sought another opportunity to make a call but it was to no avail. "Sorry, kid, no public phones. You look like you've got money, go get one of them cellular things."

"Yeah, maybe someday." Disgusted, Kim retreats back to the car.

**CTU**

The images she's been seeking have come to her computer. Lisa prints them out but looks at them carefully. Kim is obviously the one being helped from the ground and into the car. But the license plate is obscured. At least they know she got out of the Petrov's hands, but where is she?

Lisa calls the hospital closest to the scene again and questions the admitting nurse. "Take a look at the picture. No Kim Bauer's? Anyone resembling that person?...What are the names of the blondes you did admit?...Uh huh...okay."

Now the decision whether or not to share this information with Jack...it's not going to be an easy one.

Maybe Jack does work wonders. Tony can't believe their luck and his shock probably shows. He might as well ditch the chip from Burton's car. The poor guy died for nothing.

"Congratulations, Jack." His tone is defensive yet accepting. "Another day of breaking the rules has lead us to another lead."

Another day of breaking the rules? It's better not to start that discussion right now. Michelle gives Tony one of those looks, but then rushes over to her station to pull up the profile.

"Yeah, guess we got lucky." Jack utters curtly but doesn't even look up from the list of abandonned projects in his hand. It's a long one, they'd better find a way to filter through it efficiently sometime soon or it could take ages. "Catherine!"

Uh uh, here it comes. He's going to make her sort the hundreds of projects in some way. Aww, how she hates doing that kind of stuff. Catherine tries to look interested as she turns to Jack. "Yes?..."

But Jack doesn't get to respond. Michelle's voice prevents that.

"I got it! Kelly Simmons."

Michelle begins reading the information in the file while Jack and Tony are approaching her desk.

"Age 32, graduated from college early, born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey..."

She scrolls through the rest of the file. "Nothing suspicious, Jack. Perfect citizen. Not even a parking ticket." She's losing faith that they'll find anything here. She looks up at Jack and Tony. "Please tell me this isn't another dead end..."

**Palmer **

Aaron Pierce is standing in front of a door in a beautifully decorated hall. Inside, President Palmer has just walked in for a meeting with the Secretary of Defense, Stephen Brooks.

"Thank you for finding the time to meet with me, Mr. President."

"Of course. National Security is one of our top priorities nowadays." Palmer smiles. "It should be." In the back of his head, Sherry. Yes, she is one of his top priorities today, too.

**the military compound **

"This is Lieutenant Bryan. Put me through to Commander Daniels... I'll hold."

"Daniels."

"Commander. This is Lt. Bryan, Miramar Naval Air Station San Diego. We have a situation."

"What kind of situation?"

"Tresspassers. One dead, one in custody."

There is silence on the other end for just a moment. "Alright, I'll send someone over to interrogate him."

"Er... Sir. It's a woman."

"Woman, eh?... Fine, then I'll send someone to interrogate _her _."

The mockery in Commander Daniels' voice is obvious. It doesn't escape Lt. Bryan's attention, but he can't comment on it. Instead he just says "Thank you Sir." and hangs up the phone.

**CTU **

"Nobody's that perfect." Tony takes a look at the information Michelle has found. "We'll start with the early college graduation. Why? What was the degree? Who were her classmates? Let's also see what led her to that college. Where she was born, where she has lived, that sort of thing. How soon can we get a bio worked up?" He's looking around for answers.

"Um...usually takes half an hour or so depending on the starting info." Andre shrugs his shoulders while talking. His guess is based on what he has encountered but others might work faster.

"Sorry to interrupt." Lisa is speaking softly, the pictures covered with a CTU file folder, "Can I borrow Jack for one minute?"

**hospital **

The two guys pull up infont of the hospital entrance. They're still wearing the uniforms. They walk inside and look around. No trace of Kim. Not at first glance, at least.

"Think we should ask around?"

"And draw their attention? No. I've got a better idea. Come on."

They go over to the security guard standing at the door. "Excuse me sir. This is an emergency. We need to view the security camera footage."

"What's this about?", the guard is visibly concerned.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that sir. It is important that we view those tapes now."

"Er... okay." He glances around, the place is quiet. It's not like anyone would miss him if he disappeared for a minute of two. "I'll take you. Let's go."

**CTU **

Jack glances at Lisa. He can feel it's about Kim. She wouldn't be looking at him that way if it weren't.

"Michelle, pull up Codis' file and start cross-checking it with Kelly's. I have a feeling about this. Andre, get going on the bios. Catherine, start sorting the projects list according to the potential of use in a terrorist act. And we still don't know what Annabelle Peterson means. I'll be right back."

Jack walks up to Lisa and takes her by the arm, leading her away from the rest of the staff.

Catherine is not thrilled by this assignment. "Michelle, if these projects were abandonned, why does he want me to treat them as a threat?"

Michelle can't believe her ears. This is the Counter Terrorist Unit and this girl still doesn't understand what they're here for. "Because they could have been continued, Catherine. In secret. And that's exactly the kind of projects we are looking for, okay?"

"Fine." Catherine nods, but rolls her eyes.

"Cath... Get someone to help you on that."

"No, it's okay. I can do it."

"Maybe so. But it will take ages. And we need results, now. Get help."

Catherine sighs. Here we go again. One step closer to being fired. She picks up the phone to call for help. While she waits, she glances up to George's office.

In an empty corridor, Jack and Lisa stop.

"Did you find Kim?"

Jack is prepared for the worst.

**08:59:57 --- 08:59:58 --- 08:59:59 --- 09:00:00**


	14. Chapter 14

**The following takes place between 9 pm and 10 pm**

**09:00:01 --- 09:00:02 --- 09:00:03 --- 09:00:04**

**CTU**

Lisa sighs and shakes her head. "Not exactly. I still don't have a sure lead but..." She passes him the file folder. "Jack, I'm sure it's better than what it looks like. If she was helped up and walked to the car, then she's not badly injured." Her hand passes gently over his. The concern is all over his face and it breaks her heart. "I'm still pressing the hospitals."

George has been watching patiently. Things go on around him but no one says a word. Yet now, Catherine's on the phone. She's a good worker and trustworthy. He can count on her. He clicks into her phone call and interrupts. "Catherine, I'm coming down. Why don't I take a look at what you have and we'll see what we can pull together?"

He ascends the stairs to her desk, noting the absence of Jack and Lisa but really putting it aside. "I used to be great at decrypting codes." George winks slightly, "What have you got?"

Great. Now it's the boss himself looking over her shoulder. Fine. Maybe he can help.

"Alright... I've been trying to put together a list of abandonned military and government projects and it went into the 100s. And now Jack and Michelle want me to sort the whole thing. Assess the likelihood that - in case a project was continued - it could be used in a terrorist act. And that's what I was going to start on just now but Michelle ordered me to get someone to help me do it."

Catherine sighs. It may as well be George, that doesn't really matter any more. "She'll probably fire me before this day is over anyway."

"No one's firing anyone. Besides, I do that. Not Michelle." George smiles and takes the list from Catherine. It's not big, they can handle it. "We'll split it in two. It'll be nice for me to work down here for a while, get my hands dirty." He settles into a chair beside her, starting up a terminal. "So...abandoned projects...I'll take 1950-1970, you take 70 to the present, okay?"

Catherine agrees. At least now it's half the workload. "Okay. Thank you."

Jack looks at the photos. Kim walking. Kim on the ground. Kim walking back to the car, leaning on a woman's arm. The car driving away.

It hurts to see her like that. It's physical pain to him. Jack starts over, this time staring at each photo for much longer. He feels like chocking and gasps for air, turning away from Lisa for a moment.

_Pull yourself together Jack. Calm down._ The thoughts sound in his head. Calm down. Jack takes a deep breath and finally finds the strength to speak.

"You could be right..." But then again, he knows she could have internal injuries. "Find her. Please find her. If this woman took her to a hospital, it's likely the closest one. Check that one first. Or give me the address and I'll go. What about the licence plate? Were you able to ID the vehicle?"

**hospital surveillance room **

"Hey, Ted, these guys need to see today's footage. Make sure they get it, ok?"

"Sure, Eric." Ted turns to the two uniformed guys. "Need anything specific?"

"Yes, we're looking for someone. We need the footage of the last six hours. Could you pull it up? Thanks."

Eric closes the door and joins the three at the screen. He's curious about who the military is looking for in his hospital.

**CTU**

"From this angle the license is obscured. Sat feeds only cover this portion of the Canyon's side road until you get to the main highway but transmission was lost at one point due to interference." Lisa takes the pictures from Jack. He doesn't need to have them anymore. "You saw me fax her picture. Right now, there's nothing more we can do but wait."

She receives no immediate response. Jack's still processing it - the pictures, the possibilities. He's back, grieving and hurt, just like he was before this day started. "I'll go." The words come out before Lisa can stop them. "I'll tell George, he'll get back up on standby and a car ready for me. I'll go and check all the area hospitals myself."

Jack stares at her. "If I trust anyone to find her, it's you, Lisa. But I don't want to put you in danger. You know I'd much rather go out and look for her myself." Jack pauses for a moment. This might actually work better for all of them. He and Lisa will be less distracted plus she'll be out of George's way. "But that's not an option right now. I believe we're on to something here and might need to react soon..." He makes the decision. "Okay, go out there and do what you can, but don't go alone. You've seen who these people are and if you bump into some of them, you will need someone to cover your back. "

**gas station **

Heather is back in the car. The whole fueling thing took a little longer than she thought, her having had to wait for quite a while before paying for the gas. She's driving down the road again, staring straight ahead. She's in thought. Somehow things aren't right and Kim isn't talking. A greyhound bus drives past them. There's a bus stop nearby. The car crosses the town limits, heading out. Kim is silent as well. Heather feels like she needs to talk to her.

"Kim, how're you doing?"

"Uhm.. I'm ok.", Kim nods absently, following the bus with her eyes.

**CTU **

Michelle has both files, the Nanny's and Codis's up on her screen. She's looking for similarities. So far, nothing substantial. She glances at Catherine. George is helping her, now that's a smart move. That way, he's in the middle of everything that's going on. At least he's not making it harder than it already is.

Lisa makes a quick call to have a car waiting. She turns back to Jack afterwards, "Don't worry about me, I can handle myself." As she heads for the door, briefcase and laptop packed up and in hand, Lisa is wondering who she should take for backup now that Kevin is gone. There's no one she trusts. "I'll call you when we get to the hospital, okay?"

Lisa says nothing more as she walks out and then for the exit, passing George.

"Hey," George glances up, "Hold on, Catherine. Lisa?"

She stops, "I'm busy."

"Where are you going?"

"Following a lead. Stay here, okay? It's important that I do this on my own." She takes his hand from her arm and leaves.

**Heather's Car **

"Could you pull over?" Kim's request is simple but she is surprised when Heather follows it.

"I'm sorry but I can't let you continue to help me like this. You're putting yourself in danger - you and Peter."

Kim opens the car door and gets out. "Don't go home. These people will want to find you and they will go to your home. Look, my mother died because of my dad's job and I've been kidnapped twice now because of that job. Please don't let that happen to you."

She closes the door, edges to the side of the road, and starts back for the bus stop.

"Kim! Kim, wait!" Heather calls but Kim is walking. Don't go home? Where else should they go? Peter looks scared. "It's okay... It's okay.", she tries to smile. But Kim sounded serious. Peter sensed that, too.

**CTU**

"Michael! Get your stuff and go with Lisa! Now! Go!"

Michael's field ops and Jack trusts him. He can't let Lisa go without backup. Not today. Jack watches Michael grab his gun and ammo and run after Lisa.

Then Jack turns to Michelle. "Got those profiles?"

"Yes, they're here. I've been checking them."

"Good, get me a printout. I want to see them side by side."

"Already done. Here." she hands him the files.

"Thanks."

**Heather's car **

Heather waits for a while. Maybe Kim will turn around and come back. But she doesn't.

With a sigh, Heather puts the car into drive and drives off slowly, eyes on the rear view mirror. Kim is going to the bus stop, not turning back. Heather steps on the gas and leaves the scene.

**CTU **

Jack views the files. Nothing in the Nanny's. This Kelly sounds like she never left an impact anywhere in her life. All clean, all perfect. all inconspicious. But something in Codis' file catches his eye.

"Codis' file says he has a daughter. She should be roughly the same age as this Kelly girl. But there is absolutely nothing on her in here. Andre! The bios? Got anything on a daughter in Codis file?"

Michael catches up with Lisa.

"Lisa!" She turns around. "Jack's sending me with you. Guess I'm your backup team." He chuckles. "The name's Michael, by the way."

"And you already know mine," Lisa responds to Michael. She should have known Jack would send someone after her, yet she had hoped to avoid it. "This is us, I'll drive." She doesn't give him a chance to respond after grabbing the keys to the car provided for them. "We're going to the Canyon. Hope you aren't scared of mountain lions."

Michael laughs again. "Yeah, they scare the life out of me! Big ol' bad cats, them cougars!"

**Bus Stop **

Kim glances at the schedule posted. She's got about ten minutes until the next one shows. Just about enough time for someone to come around and recognize her but she'll wait. Thankfully Heather hasn't stayed and Kim knows she herself has done one thing right today.

**CTU **

"Catherine, try working the projects by their level of significance." George has been watching her progress, "If we want to reactivate a classified or abandoned project, we might choose something with little importance to those around us. That would provide a head start before anyone catches on."

Catherine nods. "Okay, that makes sense." George seems to be really trying to help here. "What's with the impact? Wouldn't we choose those that would cause the most termoil?"

"Probably, depends where you are wanting to do the most damage and what kind of damage you want to do." George glances at his list. All projects are too outdated to be updated. "Let's go with what you have for now. Look into maybe small, technological projects with foreign investors."

Andre switches to Codis' file and scans it. "Daughter born in Annaheim, Canada, she's about 29 - birthday next month. We've got a picture." He backs away for Jack to get a good look.

Jack glances at the picture. "She couldn't have been more than nine back then! Is that the only picture we've got?" He glances back and forth between Andre and Michelle.

"I don't have a picture of her, Jack.", Michelle answers. And this seems to be the only one Andre's got. Right?" Andre nods in agreement.

"Alright. So what do we do? I want to know what his daughter looks like. As soon as possible." Jack is clearly not happy.

"Jack, there is a possibility. We have a software that can simulate the changes in the physiognomy that occur as a person ages. We can try that on the picture. It should give us a fairly good idea of what she would look like today."

"Good. Do it. How long is it gonna take?"

"Uhm.. I don't know. Not that long. If we put a forensic anthropologist on it. I'll check with the lab who they can call in."

"Michelle, call the lab, but if there's no-one around, do it yourself, we don't have time to wait, okay?"

"Yes, I'll get on it right now. Andre, I'm gonna need a picture of her father and if you have one, I need one of her mom, too. Thanks."

Michelle picks up the phone, calling the forensics lab.

"This is Michelle Dessler. Do you have a forensic anthropologist on duty right now?... Okay, is there anybody who can do a physiognomy simulation?"

"Yeah, we can do that." Lab guy snaps his fingers and sends Carl upstairs. "Michelle, Carl's coming."

Andre prints the most recent photos of Codis and his daughter. "The mom is dead. I'll dig through obits and see if I can find anything."

Tony returns from getting his cup of coffee, not that anyone noticed. The room is a buzz of activity now with Jack in charge. "Since you're giving the orders," he crosses his arms and sips his drink, "Anything new you want me to do? My lead didn't pan out."

**At the bus stop **

The anxiety Kim has been feeling is now back. That and the pain in her ankle. The bus is supposed to arrive any minute now but she is hesitating. Should she really get on the bus? A quick look tells her there's not much else around. She could easily take off and head down the side road to the left.

**on patrol with Lisa**

Michael glances out the window and then looks back at Lisa. "Anyway, what's in the Canyon? Thought that compound has been wiped out?"

She isn't in the mood for a talker which is why she wished Kevin were with her. "We're looking for a missing person. I know her stats so why don't you catch up." She points to the file she has on Kim. "We've got a 15 minute drive."

Michael takes the file folder and opens it. He's a little shocked. "That's Jack's daughter! Is she missing again? Oh, man, she can't seem to stay out of trouble, can she? Now I understand why Jack showed up today, yes, Ma'am, I do.. Hey, where'd your partner go? That guy, Kevin, wasn't it? Where's he at?"

**CTU **

Carl makes his way to Michelle, everyone knows who she is. "Got the pics?" He asks in his oh so charming way that irritates Tony, who throws him a look. "Mind if I borrow your system, 'chelle?"

"No, of course not. Just do the job, we're kinda stuck here. Wait. Here's the mother.." she opens the picture file. "..and here's her father... And that's the girl. We need to know what she'd look like roughly 20 years later. Thanks." Michelle gets up from the chair and lets Carl take over. For the first time today, it looks like she can take a short break. Tony's just standing around, too. She figures it could be a good moment to have a chat.

"Tony, got a minute?"

Tony steps away with Michelle at her request. "You've got something going on with Carl the face man?" He's half teasing, half serious.

Michelle places a hand on Tony's arm. "Let's go grab a cup of coffee or something. Carl is busy, George is busy, everyone knows what to do. And I really need to talk to you."

Jack sits down next to Carl. "Mind if I wait here?"

Carl loads the pictures and begins the imaging process. A shame Michelle left, things were just getting fun. Now he's got Jack breathing down his neck. "Okay, Mom and Pop are in and the girl..." He double-clicks. "There. Now we've got to get the specifics." He types them in. Age: 29. Height and weight, eye color, hair. "Sit back and relax, Jack. It'll be a few seconds."

_Sit back and relax_. That'd be good. Just for a few moments. Jack runs his hands over his face and then through his hair and then leans back in the chair. Hands on his neck, Jack closes his eyes for just a few seconds.

**On Patrol **

"Kevin had to take care of something else." Lisa says with an exasperated sigh. "Michael, that is Jack's daughter and this is very important to him. I need you to listen to everything I ask you to do. It's the only way to ensure Kim's safety." She turns on the road to the Canyon, passes the compound road, and is within a couple miles of the first hospital.

"I realize that it's Jack's daughter, Lisa." Michael's finally serious. "I wasn't mocking about it..." Lisa gives him a sharp look. "Okay, I was... I'm sorry. She's just..." He changes his mind and stops. He's just uncomfortable, but he can't say it.

"So what are we doing? Checking every hospital in the area? I thought you'd faxed them the pictures and no-one recognized her, what's the use?"

"They may have missed something!" Lisa is near losing it with this man. What is he doing here anyway? Jack trusts him! "Okay...look! Kim is scared and alone, right? She may not know where she is and may not have given her real name. A faxed photo still looks different than a real one. Besides," she takes a deep breath, "Jack doesn't deserve this again."

**CTU **

Tony can only guess what one of the numerous things Michelle will bring up now as they head to the lounge/coffee room. "How do you take yours?" He gets two mugs from the cabinet.

"Black will do just fine, thanks." Michelle takes the mug from Tony, but doesn't drink. Time to lay the cards on the table. She eyes him carefully before she begins to speak. "Tony, this morning... I know I acted strangely... I thought it best to let you know why..."

She clears her throat. "The data that were lost, well... It could have been, no, it must have been someone from the inside... Tony, whoever it was, they used your access codes and your computer to transmit... Any idea why?"

Catherine is feeling really relieved. She looks up from the keyboard. "Thank you for helping me out, Mr. Mason. I really appreciate it."

And George keeps working. "Catherine, I'm here to help. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. As we filter these programs, focus on Bulgaria and Eastern Europe."

Catherine keeps working too. But the list is still long. "Of course, Mr. Mason. We all work together, right?" She smiles as she says this, but sometimes the place feels like everyone is playing against each other.

An odd question...George doesn't say so but he mentally makes a note to check Catherine's background. "Anything pop up on the check yet?"

**On the run **

Kim is gone from the bus stop. She didn't wait to see who would come. The roadways are void of cars and only a few homes dot the area. But there are trees and plenty of places to hide. If she just follows the road south she'll be out of the canyon again and maybe near a town soon.

**CTU **

Carl grins as he takes a quick look at Jack. "Bet I know what your thinking 'bout. Yeah, sure is a shame Nina went all psycho on us. She had great legs. Can't believe you let her go, mate. But hey, we've got 'chelle here and she's a doll." His grin widens, "Been thinking 'bout asking her out but she wouldn't take a lab guy. Hey, you've got a daughter right? How old is she? I've seen that pic floating around the internal system. Whoa! Hot one! Maybe she'll settle for me, eh?"

"SHUT UP CARL!" Jack jumps up from the chair, grabing Carl by the collar and pulling him up and away from the desk, pinning him to the wall. "How dare you talk to me like that!" Jack feels like smacking this guy, but it probably wouldn't be the best idea in front of the whole office.

"Let me tell you one thing about respect, _Carl _. It has to be earned. And this is not getting you there." Jack leans even closer to Carl and speaking directly to his ear. "Don't you ever talk about my daughter like that again or I swear, you won't like what happens next."

Jack stares Carl down for a few seconds. Better to let go, before George gets inbetween. He pushes Carl back into the chair in disgust.

"Get the work done and get the hell out of here."

**hospital surveillance room **

"That's her. Enhance. Focus. We got her." , John motions to Bill to come over.

Eric is puzzled. "Man, that's just a girl..." She doesn't look liike a criminal to him.

"And you've done a good job."

"What the..." Eric jumps up from his chair and goes for his gun, but before the security guards can react, he and his collegue get a bullet each and drop to the floor.

"Alright. We got Kim. All we have to do is ID that woman she's with, she'll lead us to Kim." He snaps a photo of the woman and calls up Nick. "We got a lead on Kim. I'm transmitting a photo of someone she was with. Get us her address and we'll bring Kim back to you."

"Great job, Bill. We're ready over here."

"Okay."

Bill sends the photo to Nick and sits down in Eric's chair. "Got it?"

"Yeah. I'll get back to you." The phone line disconnects.

"We're closing in on her. That's good." John is grinning.

**CTU main office**

George says nothing. Jack is clearly in the right and Carl is in the wrong and Jack has handled himself amazingly well. For a guy who's daughter is missing and who's wife is dead.

Meanwhile, Carl readjusts his shirt and gets back to work. That man is scary no doubt about it. "Um...okay, here." The finished enhancement loads letting him breathe a sigh of relief. "There, your pic will take a couple of minutes to fully load. So I should be getting back now... lots of stuff to do." He pushes back the chair and gets up. "But hey, she is hot." And now... Carl sprints towards the stairs.

Jack shakes his head in disbelief. Carl is running away, and there's no use chasing him. A little smack on the head wouldn't do any more damage to his brain than it already seems to have suffered. But there are more important things to do. Maybe later.

**Coffee Room **

He wondered how long it would take before someone noticed. There hadn't been time to cover things this morning, what with Jack coming back and everything. "They got the access codes because I left my computer logged on. It was up and running when I got here this morning."

Tony takes a seat and fiddles with his mug infront of him. "I stayed here for the weekend, went home at about 5 this morning to shower and change. Whoever wanted access could get it because I wasn't careful enough to secure my system." Michelle is looking for an explanation. Why not? Give her the whole sad sob story.

"Things haven't been the same around here since... anyway. I'm responsible for a lot of what happened then because I should have caught on. But I didn't and it stays with me every day. I can't sleep, can't think clearly, and sure don't want to deal with Jack."

**Hospital **

Lisa pulls to the curb of the hospital and parks. "Stay here. I'm going in by myself."

Lisa identifies herself to the admit nurse. "I'm just going to take a look around, see if I see her by chance."

**CTU cofee room**

Michelle places her hand on Tony's. "Hey, I understand how you must be feeling. There will come a time when you and Jack will be able to talk about what happened. But in the meantime, remember Jack didn't see through Nina either. She fooled both of you. She fooled the whole office, Tony. It wasn't only your fault. Everybody could have noticed something... Jack should have noticed something."

She pauses. The whole thing had really gotten to him. It was a shock to everyone, but Tony has been more than devastated ever since.

**Hospital **

Michael sits in the car. He behaved like an idiot. It was inexcusable. He looks out of the window for a moment, thinking. He can't stay in here. Jack asked him to watch Lisa's back, that's what he's going to do. Luckily, Lisa had left the keys in the ignition lock. He steps out of the car and locking it, walks inside.

He spots her talking to a nurse and walks up to her. "Lisa... I'm sorry." The nurse is listening, but it doesn't matter. "I don't know what came over me, guess I was just freaked out, afraid of what will happen if we don't find her. I behaved like an ass and I'm sorry. Tell me how to help."

"Heh..." Lisa excuses herself from the admit desk, taking Michael by the arm. "You're more trouble than you're worth," she huffs, "but Jack wanted you here so I'll keep you. We're checking rooms and checking charts and checking staff for anyone who might recognize Kim. We'll cover more ground if we split up. Take the left hallway, I'll take the right. Go now."

Michael smiles. "Okay. I'll let you know if I find anything."

**Coffee Room **

Michelle, though feeling sorry about Tony, knows the importance of their work. "Look, I know it's not easy, but I don't have to tell you that you have to be able to focus. We need everyone 100 capable of doing their job. This may not be the right time to say this, but the fact that you forgot to lock your system and went home proves that you're not..."

Michelle lets her eyes sink for a moment, but then looks up again. "Tony, don't misunderstand me, you're great at your job and I'd hate not to have you here right now, but... maybe you should take some time off. Deal with the pain and come back when you're ready."

Tony puts his head in his hands. Michelle's right, he should deal with it - but is now the right time? "I haven't made any other mistakes.", he sighs.

Burton was killed. If he hadn't acted so rash, threatened to leave, could this source have survived? "What will I tell George?"

"George? You will have to explain what happened... Tony..." Michelle sighs "I really don't mean to be rude, but that one mistake probably cost that FBI undercover agent his life... If we're lucky, they only used it themselves, but if that information has been made available to others, every single one of our agents outside could die... You really can't afford another mistake. You'll get fired or worse." She doesn't like saying this, but she knows it has to be said. Hopefully Tony won't hold this against her...

**CTU **

Jack turns back to the screen. The photo is fully loaded now. "Michelle..." He calls but she's not there. Neither is Tony. Jack grabs Kelly's file from the desk... "George! I got it." The photo in the file shows the same face as the photo on the computer screen. "Mills' Nanny is Codis' daughter."

**09:59:57 --- 09:59:58 --- 09:59:59 --- 10:00:00**


	15. Chapter 15

**The following takes place between 10 pm and 11 pm**

**10:00:01 --- 10:00:02 --- 10:00:03 --- 10:00:04**

**CTU main office **

"Andre, I want you on this. You're working up Codis' bio and movements, find out who he's met with recently and let's get this picture into our system and search for recognition in your camera feeds." George pats Jack on the back, the earlier argument forgotten. "Good work, Jack. We're closing in, thanks to you."

"Thanks." Jack doesn't waste much time on long speeches. All that matters now is getting the work done. He sits down at Michelle's desk and starts running a search on the name Codis. "Let's see if we can find her this way."

Then he grabs the Codis file. There has to be something in there to indicate the meaning of Annabelle Peterson, if there is nobody who goes by that name. Then he glances at George, and speaks to him quietly, raising an eyebrow.

"George, you are helping Catherine with the projects list, right? Think she can handle it? If not, get someone else to do it, please, we have no time."

George just nods silently, knowing Jack is right.

**hospital **

Bill and John have now changed, wearing the uniforms of the security guards they killed.

They walk out of the surveillance room, take the staircase down and head towards the exit. As they come closer, they notice Michael and Lisa and overhear her words. John keeps his hands in his pockets. As Lisa takes the right hallway, he jostles her accidentally.

"Oops." He chuckles a little. "I'm sorry Miss."

They move on. What Lisa didn't notice is that he had slipped a tracker into her jacket pocket.

Lisa barely glances at the security guard who ran into her. She's got a bigger task at hand than to worry about someone not paying attention. And now Michael has set off down the hall.

**military compound **

The heavy door to the cell opens and two soldiers walk in. "Get up! Someone wants to talk to you!"

The woman complies, but slowly. She remains standing in the center of the room until one of them grabs her by the arm and pushes her forcefully out of the room.

She is taken down a darkened corridor and into something that is doubtlessly a soundproof interrogation room. A ranking officer and a scary looking guy are already inside, waiting.

"Sit.", the officer says. "We're gonna have a little talk."

She eyes him but doesn't move. "I don't have anything to say."

"Oh, we'll see about that... I'll try this nicely first. Why did you parachute down here tonight? You surely didn't think you and just one other guy could do any damage to an entire military compound?"

"I told you I have nothing to say."

The officer glances at the scary guy, who gets up and paces slowly towards her.

**Coffee room**

"Maybe he'll go easy. It's my first big mistake." Tony chuckles as he shrugs his shoulders. The impact of his 'mistake' is a heavy burden to bear. He likely allowed everything that had happened today to happen - well, except for the assassination.

"You know..." He turns to Michelle, "Regardless of how this turns out for me the fact still remains that someone on the inside accessed my system. There's no indication the information was routed from the outside. But I do need to talk to George as soon as possible."

He holds the door open for Michelle and follows her out. Clearly something has happened while they've been away.

"Tony, Michelle! We need you on this. The Mills' nanny is Codis' daughter and we've got to find her." George is urging them over.

"George, I need to talk-", Tony begins.

"Not now, get working. Trace funds, the nanny's account, whatever you can find on her and Codis. Michelle," George physically takes her by the arm, "You'll have to work with Catherine on the projects search we've been doing. Filter by Eastern European involvement."

Now George stands by Jack, "Where do you want me to start?"

"George, get Andre to help Catherine. I need Michelle working with me. We need to know everything about the daughter-" Jack stops talking when the search on Michelle's computer yields results on females named Codis.

Michelle joins Jack at her desk, looking at the screen and brings up the photos of the women. Scrolling down the results page, after a short while, she finds the face they're looking for.

"Here she is, Jack."

Jack: "Great, Michelle. Print it out." She does, then gets up.

"Jack, I'm gonna go help Catherine. Andre should keep working on Codis.."

"Okay."

**Hospital **

Lisa pokes her head into the rooms, occupied and unoccupied. Charts reveal names and ages that couldn't be Kim. She stops a nurse in the hall. "Excuse me, have you seen this girl? It's very important we find her."

The nurse looks at her. "Why?"

"Have you seen her?"

"Yes, but she's a patient here and I can't give out any information-", she begins to walk away.

Lisa stops her quickly, "Look, I'm a federal agent," she shows her badge, "The girl is a witness in need of protection. Do you understand? She's in imminent danger and I have to find her."

"I can't just give you information-"

"Show me her room or I'll have you brought up on charges of interfering with a federal official in the line of duty."

With a heaving sigh, the nurse leads Lisa to where she last saw Kim. It sure isn't worth losing her job over this. "She might be sleeping," The nurse opens the door but gasps causing Lisa to force her way in, gun drawn quickly.

"Where is she!", Lisa exclaims.

The nurse shakes her head nervously.

Lisa calls Michael, "Kim's gone. We need to get a search underway. Initiate a lockdown on your side and get security to start searching. Meet me in five minutes at the main security room." Lisa is running as she speaks. "LOCK IT DOWN!" She orders, "GET SECURITY ON EACH EXIT! NOW!"

**CTU **

Jack now turns to George. "Call Division, tell them we're getting somewhere, keep Hammond busy. We don't need him over here checking up on us, and stalling, okay? Tony!" Jack grabs the printout of the file and holds it up for Tony to take. "This is Codis' daughter Karen. We need the locations she's been to, her contacts, whatever you can find. I'm working up her profile and this "Annabelle Peterson" thing. I wanna know what's going on here. Now."

Tony refuses the print out. "I can't, Jack."

Everything seems to shudder to a stop.

"What do you mean you can't? You've been given an order." George stares him down.

"I've been trying to explain but... something happened earlier and-"

"That doesn't matter now." George jerks the paper from Jack and gives it to Tony. "Do it. I'm making the call to Division." He storms upstairs. Facing Hammond, literally or on the phone, is not fun.

But Tony is stuck now. He knows he has a mistake out there and where his responsibility lies. "I'll get right on it," he mutters, not looking at Jack or Michelle.

Jack glances at Michelle. Tony is acting strange. The look in her eyes tells him something's wrong, even though she doesn't say a word as she walks over to Catherine.

**hospital **

Michael is running back through the hallway. He pulls out his badge and holds it up.

"CLOSE THE EXITS! This is a federal investigation! No-one walks out of the building! You!" He points to the false security guards, who were about to exit. They stop. "Stay right there. Keep this closed. No-one walks in and out." Michael glances at the other guy. "Go to the ER, now! Allow admittance _to_ the ER, but no-one leaves. Understood?"

"Yes.", John answers and sprints towards the ER, glancing only briefly at Bill. They have to play along for now. Maybe the CTU will lead them directly to Kim.

Michael turns to the admit nurse. "Call the security. I want a guard at every exit. You have a patient missing. No-one leaves until we find her."

**Hospital **

Lisa comes to a guard's station, "You have camera access?"

"Yes, ma'am. We've got the lockdown in place. No one has come in or out in the last few minutes." The guard lets her into the station to see the camera feeds.

"Go back two hours. How long will that take?"

"Um..." The guard begins rewinding and checking times. "A few minutes maybe."

"Okay." Lisa hands him Kim's picture. "I'm looking for this girl. The minute you see anyone who looks remotely like her, give me a yell." She gets on the radio quickly, "Michael? The cameras are running. I think we'll have results -"

"Hey!" An orderly is running up to her, "You looking for a blonde girl and her friends?"

"She look like this?" The guard shows Kim's picture to the orderly, who nods affirmatively. "That's her. She left here about two hours ago with a woman and little boy."

Lisa shoots a look at the guard, "Go back that far and start a search. I want to know which exit she went out of and who this woman is." Again she radios Michael, "Get over here. I've got a lead and need your help."

Michael runs up to Lisa and glances at the screen. "You found her? Want me to call Jack?"

Lisa is engrossed in security tapes being played in reverse. "Call... Jack?" She shakes her head. If anyone will call him, she will, but not now. "We don't know if she went voluntarily or was forced to go."

**Meanwhile... **

Unaware anyone nice is looking for her, Kim is making her way through a corn field up to a well-kept farm house. She knocks on the door and smiles as best she can when it's opened.

"I'm sorry to bother you but I'm really lost. Could I use your phone?"

Paula wipes her hands on her jeans and lets Kim in. "Hon, you look more than lost. You okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to get a hold of someone to pick me up."

**Hospital**

Lisa: "Stop right there." She puts her finger to the screen as a blonde girl, woman, and boy are exiting a hallway. "That's her. Move the frames forward slowly." Lisa watches intently as they move step by step. Kim is scared briefly by the orderly from earlier then regains her composure and leaves with the woman and boy. "Do we have the street cameras cued up?"

"We should," the guard punches a couple of buttons and new images appear, "The camera pans around so you should get her exiting."

And they do. Kim appears to willingly follow the woman and boy to the car and is helped in. Lisa gives Michael a look, "That's the car I saw at the office. Now we call Jack."

**CTU **

Jack joins Tony and places his palms on his desk. He waits until Tony finally glances up before speaking.

"Tony, what was that about? You know the situation we're in and we need everyone focused on this 100. George won't listen, fine, I will. If there's anything going on, I need to know. Now." He tries to keep his voice sound normal and not like he's interrogating him. But the nature of the question remains. "What happened, Tony?"

"Not here." Tony motions for Jack to follow him to the coffee room he exited earlier.

After the door is securely closed behind them, arms folded, back to the wall, Tony starts talking. "I'm not working at full capacity, Jack, I haven't been since Nina killed Teri. I've never had the chance to tell you I'm sorry and that I know I'm responsible, that I should have caught on to her. But that's not all..." he knows what he has to say next won't set well with Jack, especially because of Kim. "There was a major security leak this morning that Michelle has been keeping quiet. She traced it to my system. Access codes, back up data, it's all been compromised because I failed to log off when I went home this morning."

"What!"

**hospital / CTU **

Lisa steps away from the security hub and finds a quiet hallway to make her call. She dials quickly but can only breathe slowly to stay calm. When the phone is answered Jack sounds busy but she knows this is important - too important to wait. "Jack, it's me. We found the hospital. They treated Kim for an ankle injury. Um," she pauses, "she disappeared. We think she's okay and with the woman and child who helped her earlier. Michael's working on getting a license plate off the car she got into."

Jack breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank God. Lisa, I can't thank you enough." To Tony: "They found Kim. She seems to be fine." Then back to the phone. "Lisa, I'm in the middle of something here. Get back to me as soon as you've found the woman, okay? And thank you."

"Sure, Jack."

Jack hangs up the phone and turns back to Tony, glaring at him. He says nothing for a few seconds as he's trying to process the information he has been given. Then he replies and he knows Tony won't like it.

"I don't need to tell you what consequences this could have, and if whatever investigation George decides to launch shows your responsibility in what's happened today, you could be facing serious charges. But as far as the Nina subject goes... I trusted you to protect my family. You couldn't. That's all you're guilty of. But I know you tried and I'm thankful to you for everything you did. But Tony, Nina is a traitor. You're not responsible for her actions."

Tony nods numbly.

Jack pauses. He wants to say 'Get over it already' but he knows how hard it is. Time to change the subject. Now he is speaking fast, his voice is low. "We need to focus on today's events now. Under normal circumstances, I'd suggest George to suspend you immediately as I'm sure you realize yourself. And that's probably what you were trying to tell him earlier. But today there's too much going on and there is no-one to replace you. We can't afford to lose a good ranking agent. So, you need to get your act together and do your job, help us get through this. Just don't make another mistake. Can you do that?"

His words sounded like he's the boss, although technically he isn't. Several long seconds pass before Tony barely says "Yeah."

Jack smiles a little to ease the tension. "Come on. Let's go back to work." Jack moves toward the door but turns around before opening it. "The security leak, has that been taken care of? Who knows about it? You know this means we have another mole on the inside. The information has to be kept dark from as many people as possible."

"The data loss was the first thing I noticed when I started the morning." Tony does not mention his outburst. "Michelle knows, Mason might know. I'm not sure how much information was in process prior to the assassination. But, Jack, really think about it. Another mole?" He has a questioning look on his face. "Do you think our vulnerability is still that low?"

Jack sighs. "I don't know... I really don't know, it might be nothing. Someone might have accessed the information from the outside and just covered their tracks too well... Don't talk to anyone about this, okay? Let's go."

Jack holds the door open for Tony and they enter the main office again. "Find Karen Codis' profile and where she is. I wanna know everything."

**hospital / CTU**

Michael is enhancing the licence plate. "Here. That's a nice, clear picture." He calls up Michelle to run the number through the databases, find the address.

"Okay, I'll get back to you. It may take a couple minutes.", Michelle answers as she punches the number to the search machine.

"Thanks." MIchael finds Lisa in the corridor. "I got the number, Michelle is tracing it. Right now, all we can do is wait." He takes a deep breath. "Uhm... Lisa, about earlier... I'm really sorry. You're doing a good job."

"Nothing matters so long as we find Kim, okay?" Lisa smiles and knows it's time to repair the damage with Jack's Field Ops man. "You're doing great yourself. Not many people could get a plate enhanced that quickly. I'm sorry for the way I acted in the car." Her voice is lower to prevent the guards from overhearing. "This one's personal. I've got to bring her home."

Michael smiles back. "We will. We'll find her." He's glad they're working together now. "You're a good person Lisa. Jack is a lucky man."

"Thanks," Lisa replies instantly, without thinking then she stops. "What?" She takes Michael by the arm, "Um... let's just not say anything okay? To anyone."

M ichael giggles. "So there is something between you two. I knew it. The way you were avoiding each other's eyes earlier. I figured something was up. Hey, don't worry. I'll keep it under the belt."

She hates standing around and waiting. "I need to walk. Do you want to come? I'm going to go back to her room, see if anything's there. Hopefully Michelle will call soon."

"She will. Okay. Let's go check out her room."

**CTU **

Jack sits down at Michelle's desk and takes a look at Codis' file. Then it hits him. "Son of a bitch..." His voice is suddenly loud. "People, listen up. "Annabelle Peterson" is nothing but a sentimental daddy providing an alias for his daughter. Tony, get that profile up, if she needs an alias, she's probably still up to something. See if she was ever in the military."

Michelle goes over to him. "How'd you figure that out?"

"It's thin, but she was born in Annaheim, and his father's name is Peter. You didn't find any Anabelle Petersons that fit. I'm thinking an alias is all there is to it."

**Farmhouse **

"I don't understand," Paula listens to the phone and shakes it, "It worked yesterday. Haven't made a call today but it still worked. I'm sorry, honey. You're welcome to sit a while and wait. It's these stupid canyon lines, never can tell when they'll be in service. Could be in just a few minutes."

Kim shakes her head but dares to ask, "Canyon... how far to the main road?"

"'bout two miles. Wouldn't be too long on foot. Can't take you 'cause I've got a cake in the oven."

"Thanks I can make it." Kim had unwrapped her ankle at the bus stop so she wouldn't attract more attention. She was getting used to walking on it. "Have a good day."

**CTU **

Talking to Jack didn't help. If anything, Tony feels worse actually _hearing _that he wasn't able to protect Jack's family. If he couldn't do that, why assume he could complete any assignment given him?

But this one was simple. Follow a trail. He barely flinches when Jack announces his discovery of where Annabelle Peterson came from. Tony inputs 'Karen Codis' into a search. Her birth certificate is the first result followed by school records. Now it's a matter of following the last of those records.

"Andre, what did you get on Codis' daughter?"

Andre sends the file to Tony's system. "Graduated college early, after that, I couldn't find her."

Tony filters through college records to find her major - computer science. There has to be a reason why this girl graduated early.

**CTU **

Jack goes over to Catherine. "Let me see that list. Both parts."

"Jack, we're not done yet.", she protests.

"It doesn't matter. Just give it to me. Thank you. And it's _Bauer_."

Catherine sighs. "Okay." and clicks on print. "Here you go. _Bauer _." She accentuates the last word.

Jack gives her a look but doesn't make a comment. He grabs the list from her and starts going over it.

George catches the tone of Catherine's voice as well. He notices Jack giving her a look but saying nothing. "Jack, I worked on some of that list..." he pulls Jack aside, "What do you know about Catherine? She was here when I came in, hired by Division."

"Tony, each branch has a military science unit.", Andre calls to Tony.

"Yeah, thanks," Tony is still working to find Karen after college. Facial recognition is being used and results are showing up. "Bingo. Air Force. Andre, she joined the Air Force. We're both going to work on her military record. I'm sending you her i.d. number."

"Why both of us? One person can handle it."

"Because I want you to double check! We can't have any mistakes!"

Andre backs off and begins his work. The Air Force data are loading.

**Hospital **

Lisa grabs the chart at the foot of the bed upon entering Kim's room. "It says she was taken for x-rays after being sedated. The doctor... here it is, suspected a possible fracture to the right ankle bone." She is now purposely avoiding Michael, who does not give her a sense of being able to keep anything under the belt. "Might as well see if anything's come back. Excuse me, ma'am!" She stops the nurse she saw earlier, "Did you ever get results for this girl's x-rays?"

"Lemme see," she flips quickly through a stack of paperwork, "Yep, right here. We've got her listed as Jane Doe. X-Ray tech says it's not broken."

"That's great news." Lisa checks the chart again, "And she was given Vicodine. Okay that should have worn off by now or be wearing off." Finally, she gives in and turns to Michael. "Would you mind calling Michelle and seeing where she is on the address? Tell her we need it asap."

"Sure. I'll check." Michael is all helpful now. He leaves the room to make a call and flips open his cell. But before he can dial, a doctor shows up.

"You can't use that in here. It is disturbing our instruments."

"I'm a federal agent investigating..."

"I don't care who you are, you can't use that phone."

The doctor is playing tough. Jack would have knocked him out by now, Michael is thinking. But he's not Jack. He complies and slips the phone back into his pocket.

"Lisa", he says as he enters the room again. "I'm gonna go out a second. Be right back."

And with that, he leaves towards the exit, to make that phonecall.

**CTU**

Catherine watches as George pulls Jack aside and glances at her while speaking. "You're not going to fire me now, are you Mr. Mason? You promised!", she calls across the room.

"Keep working Catherine!" Jack interrupts her plea. Then he continues silently. "George, let's walk." They move away. "I have never seen her before today. Do you have reason to mistrust her?" Jack knows something's up, otherwise George wouldn't ask. Does George suspect she's mixed up with what Tony told him about?

"I don't know her enough to mistrust her. I feel like I don't know anyone anymore." George keeps walking with his head and voice low. "The crack about firing her - I never said anything about that. And she constantly talks about working together as a team. I dunno," he shakes his head, "maybe I'm just paranoid. The Nina thing got to us all." He glances at Jack apologetically, but continues. "She seems off. I was going to run a background check but haven't gotten to it with everything that's been happening."

"Paranoid? I dunno, George, she's been giving me a hard time since I got here. She never takes an order without grumbling, everything I want her to do is just too much." Jack rolls his eyes. "I'm surprised Division hired her in the first place."

Jack stops walking and glances around before continuing. "Didn't she get injured this morning? You could send her home, tell her to get some rest, anything. Do you have anyone to replace her?"

**CTU **

"She aced parachuting class. In fact, looks like she was the top." Tony scrolls through Karen's military record. "As of last year... she dropped off their radar though. There's nothing. No mention of a discharge - honorable or dishonorable. Okay, I think this is good stuff. Michelle," he prints the information out, "Karen was a parachute class An Air Force member. That's an elite group and could lead us somewhere."

**Hospital **

She hates to be suddenly split like this - even from Michael. Lisa watches him walk away and has a feeling to tell him not to bother, come back, but doesn't. She'll wait. He'll be back soon.

"Excuse me," she stops the doctor who just harrassed Michael, "where's the nearest ladies' room?"

"It's just around the corner.", the doctor smiles and turns away.

**CTU **

Michelle grabs the printout from Tony and smiles. "Finally. We're closing in on her." She glances around. "Where is Jack?"

Tony glances around, "I saw him walk off with George. Probably talking about what we were earlier." He said nothing more, she knew what he meant. "Anything else we can trace?"

"We need to check for recent chute jumps across the country. That's the only lead we've got. If she disappeared earlier today and she aced parachuting class..." Her phone rings. "Excuse me... Dessler."

**hospital **

Michael walks past the security guard at the hospital exit. He notices it's a different man than whom he had placed to watch the exit. The new shift must have arrived. He stops by the exit door outside and flips open his cell phone, dialing CTU.

"Michelle?"

"Michael. I've got the woman's address. It's 24..." Michelle stops talking when she hears a groan on the other side of the line. Then the line disconnects.

"Michael?... MICHAEL!"

**10:59:57 --- 10:59:58 --- 10:59:59 --- 11:00:00**


	16. Chapter 16

**The following takes place between 11 p.m. and 12 a.m. **

**11:00:01 --- 11:00:02 --- 11:00:03 --- 11:00:04**

**CTU gangway**

"I can find a replacement and I think it might be a good idea." George mentally begins running through replacements. "Jennie might be available today. Jack, give me your honest opinion, do you think she's on the up and up?"

Jack reflects on it for a few seconds. Jennie, he doesn't know her too well, but she's good at what she does. And as for trusting her... Well, they'd just have to take that chance.

"Bring her in. Have her monitor Catherine's actions, every click, every phonecall, every move. We need hard evidence if we're gonna bring her down. If she's clean, it could do more damage than help. George, we can't afford to be wrong about this. I already took her off the projects list, have her run back-ups or something. Keep her away from sensitive information."

**Hospital / CTU**

Lisa pulls out her cell after checking the bathroom stalls for people then dials Jack. Jack moves a few steps away from George to take the call.

"Hey, it's me. We're in a holding pattern here, Michael's waiting for Michelle to give him info on an address. How are you holding up?"

"Hey... I'm fine. We've got a new lead, I might have to go out in the field soon and you probably won't be able to reach me."

Jack glances to George, who is at a safe distance. Suddenly, Jack has this fear, this strange feeling that Lisa might need him tonight and he won't be able to protect her. Thoughts of Teri come back to him. He hadn't been there for her either. He lowers his voice.

"Lisa, when you check out that address, be very careful. I couldn't forgive myself if something happened... to either you or Kim. It would be my fault, I brought you into this."

**CTU gangway**

George makes the call to Jennie, bringing her up on the situation - well, a summary - and what he might need her to do. "Be here in 15 minutes." He knew Catherine wouldn't like this. At all.

**main office**

Michelle's voice echoes throughout the building. Tony is immediately by her side. "What is it? What's wrong!"

Michelle is panic-stricken. "It's Michael. The line disconnected. I think something happened to him." She tries Lisa's phone. Busy. "Great." The only person close to the location and she's chatting. "Tony, pull up the security footage from the hospital, see if you can locate Michael. I'm going to look for Jack."

Tony accesses the Canyon Hospital's security footage and begins scrolling fast. He watches Lisa and Michael talk and then Michael walk away, towards an exit. It's possible he just lost his cell signal...

**Hospital **

"I'll be fine," Lisa promises Jack, "But I can't trust anyone else to get messages to you. We're getting close now and Kim'll want to talk to you when we get her. Try to be available, Jack."

She sighs then steps from the bathroom. "I don't want to lose contact with you. Not now."

Michael still isn't back. "What's taking Michelle so long?" Suddenly... it hits her that the hall seems deserted. "Jack? See if Michelle has that address. I'm heading for the car, without Michael. Something's wrong."

Jack understands the distress in her voice immediately. "Get out of there, Lisa. I'll get you the address. GO!"

With the phone still to his ear, Jack goes swiftly past George, who is also talking to someone on the phone, and over to the main office. Michelle runs up to him as soon as she spots him.

"Jack! I was just on the phone with Michael and we got cut off. I think something's up."

"I know, I'm on the phone with Lisa now. Are you checking the security footage?"

"Tony's on it."

"Good. Lisa, we're already working on the situation, I'll send out a team to look for Michael, I want you to get out of there now. Michelle, did you find the address of that woman who was with Kim earlier?"

"I was just about to give it to Michael when it happened. 24, Virginia Avenue, Santa Monica."

"Lisa, did you get that?"

"Got it," Lisa scrambles to get her ID from her pocket to show the guard at the front exit before he'll let her leave. "I don't see Michael anywhere and the car is still where I parked it next to the curb." As she enters the car, Lisa takes one more quick look around. Her heart is pounding but she steps on the gas and makes her way to the main road leading to Santa Monica. "I'll call you back..." she hopes.

**CTU **

"I've got Michael exiting the main floor to a stairwell after talking to a doctor. There are no cameras in the stairwells but he never exited on another floor and he didn't come back the way he came in so he's here," Tony points to the still of the ER stairwell door. "Unless he vanished into thin air." He shoots a glance towards Michelle and Jack.

Andre decides to make his announcement at this point in time. "Uh... radio traffic from Miramar Naval Air Station recorded trespassers landing within the compound earlier."

"What do you mean landing?" Tony asks quickly.

"Apparently they were wearing parachuting gear."

**Car outside hospital **

Bill is driving down a small road in the woods. John, is in the back seat, gun in hand, Michael is seated next to him, apparently unconscious. "That's far enough." John says when the car is sufficiently hidden from view. He slaps Michael across the face to wake him up. "Get out of the car slowly."

Michael eyes him but doesn't move a muscle. "GET OUT I SAID!", John says, pointing his gun at Michael.

"You won't shoot me, you need something."

"Don't try me." He pulls back the slide, rests the barrel on Michael's forehead and stares at Michael's face.

"Fine." Michael opens the car door and complies. "What now?"

"Now we call your boss."

"John, the tracker. I have a signal."

"Good, we won't be long." John hands the phone to Michael while placing the tip of the gun to the back of his head. "Dial George Mason."

Michael takes the phone and does as told. Slowly. Trying to think a way out of this. Nothing. His mind is blank. He's never been this scared before. But he's trying to play it cool. "It's ringing."

"Thank you." John takes the phone and when George picks up, he speaks.

"Mr. Mason. Listen very carefully. We've got a collegue of yours here and we want you to do something for us. Take Jack Bauer off the case immediately. Otherwise, you lose a very capable subordinate. I'm sure you'll want proof we've got him, so here it is."

He puts Michael on the phone. "Tell your boss what I am doing."

Silence.

"Tell him!"

Michael relents."Holding a gun to my head."

"That's right. And where is my finger?"

"On the trigger."

"Thank you. Now, Mr. Mason, I expect you will make the right decision."

"And exactly what are you expecting?" George begins to choose his words carefully but knows what he must do, "I don't negotiate with terrorists and won't be bound by any demands you intend to make."

John rolls his eyes. "Oh I know you don't. But I'm offering you a deal. I already told you what we want. Send Bauer home and we might keep our hands off Kim. If he continues to meddle with our affairs, he'll get her back in the mail. Do you understand me?"

Michael can't take this anymore. For what it's worth... "George don't do it! They don't..." John knocks him unconscious with the gun.

"He's still alive. For now. I truly hope you make the right choice here, see I don't really feel like cleaning brain mass off my clothes. You have five minutes. I'll call back."

John hangs up. He and Bill load Michael into the trunk of the car and John checks his watch. Four minutes to go.

**CTU**

He can't deal with this. Not now, not again. George can't lose a good agent and he really can't afford to lose Jack but... Jack sure as hell doesn't want to lose his daughter.

George steps from the office where he just received the call. He takes a deep breath. "Jack, I've been thinking... you've done a great job. Lisa's got things under control with Kim, Tony and Michelle are working up the Codis lead. Let us take it from here. Go home." He takes him by the arm and begins pulling him towards the door.

"George, what are you doing?" Tony starts to follow.

"That was Division. They're on to us and have threatened to take him in if he's not out of the building in five minutes." George is still walking with Jack, "I'm not going to let that happen. And things ARE under control."

**Somewhere on the road / CTU**

A man pulls up beside Kim. "Hey, you look lost. Need a ride?"

Kim is immediately startled and steps to the side but looks over the car and the man. "Actually... do you have a phone I could borrow?"

This girl looks like she really needs help. "Yeah, sure." He reaches for a bag on the passenger's seat and gives a phone to Kim. "Here. Call whoever you need to call. My firm is paying for the calls. Executive perks, you know.", he chuckles.

"Thanks! I really appreciate it!" Kim immediately dials CTU but doesn't recognize the voice on the other end. "Hi, can I speak to Jack Bauer? It's an emergency. Please, this is his daughter."

Catherine had picked up the phone. She glances around before she replies. "Uhm.. He doesn't seem to be here. I think he's out in the field. Do you want me to take a message?" Then she realizes who she is talking to and that her last question was pretty stupid. Oh well... She gets up and walks into a hallway, then speaks as softly as she can. "Where are you? We'll send someone to pick you up."

**the woods **

The car is already in motion again. John, now in the front seat, is looking at a receiver, tracking the device he slipped into Lisa's pocket earlier.

"Looks like she's headed North. Hopefully she'll bring us directly to Kim." He glances at his watch and decides to give George a little more time.

With some luck, Jack will be gone soon.

**CTU **

Jack frees himself from George's grip and stops walking.

"George, why are you doing this? You've got an illegal chute jump over a military compound, it's very likely Codis' daughter was involved, you have no idea what they're up to and you know I'm the best you've got to lead the mission. You wouldn't be half this far if it wasn't for me. Why would Hammond call just now to take me off the case?"

"Look, I don't know, okay? But what Hammond says goes, and I do what Hammond says, whether I like it or not. It's still my job." George again grabs for Jack, knowing full well his time is running out. "We've got to go now. You think you're going to do Kim any good being in cuffs?"

Jack keeps walking this time. "George, for God's sake, forget about the chain of command for one moment. Lisa is on her way to Kim, we're closing in on Karen Codis, we'll get to the Petrovs soon."

He looks back, Tony is still following but saying nothing. They're near the exit now.

"Look, George, give me till the end of the day. Let me finish what we started here. If Hammond still wants to arrest me after that, fine. But right now, I need to be here."

**Street /CTU**

Kim begins screaming into the phone, "NO! NO! Don't send anyone to get me! I want to talk to my dad! If he's not there, let me talk to Tony Almeida! LET ME TALK TO SOMEONE! LET ME TALK!" She can't take this ever again.

Catherine knows full well that she could get Michelle to talk to Kim, but she hates Jack. He's going to convince George to fire her, that's for sure. So she decides not to help him. She muted the phone so that Kim's shouting wouldn't be heard. When Kim is quiet again, she speaks.

"Tony isn't here either. Listen, we're kinda in an emergency right now, so if you won't tell me where you are, I really need to get back to work."

The guy in the car is sitting there, listening. This girl seems to be losing it. She must have been through a lot today...

"LISTEN!" Kim has had enough of this woman, "I told you who I am. My name is Kim Bauer, I've been kidnapped, I need to speak to my father or Tony Almeida or someone besides you! NOW PUT ME ON!"

"Catherine, what's going on?" Michelle is behind her. "Who's on the phone?"

"No one."

"You're lying. Give me the handset."

Catherine rolls her eyes and sighs. "Whatever... Look, it's Kim Bauer. She claims to-"

"Kim? Give me that!", Michelle doesn't wait for Catherine to finish her story. She grabs the handset. "Kim? This is Michelle Dessler. I work with your father. Where are you?"

Catherine, once again, rolls her eyes and leaves.

**CTU **

Tony listens to Jack's reasoning but knows George isn't going to budge. He can see there are greater forces at work. "Hey, Jack... why don't you go? I can keep you up-to-date by phone and maybe you can contact some law enforcement sources at the Canyon?"

George agrees and urges Jack forward, "Do that. Try to get information in your own way. Just don't come back." He shoves Jack outside and slams the door. He glares at two guards, "Keep it locked, keep Bauer out. Tony, get back to work."

"GEORGE! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! GEORGE!" Jack is shouting outside the building. It's pointless, George and Tony are walking away. "DAMMIT!" Jack slams his fist against the wall.

The guards won't let him back in, that much is clear. "Dammit, what am I gonna do?" He sighs and runs his hands through his hair, then rubs his eyes as he allows his heart rate to slow down to a normal pace again. "What am I gonna do?"...

**Street **

Kim audibly breathes a sigh of relief. Thank goodness someone with brain capacity has taken over. "I'm...I'm..." she looks around for any landmarks, "Off the main road to Pasadena, the 210." The guy in the car nods. "I'm okay but really just need someone to pick me up. There's a grocery store back about two blocks. I can go there and wait. Michelle?" She's fighting back tears, "Tell my dad I'm okay."

**CTU **

"You could have explained to Hammond.", Tony remarks neutrally as he walks back towards the office with George.

George glares at Tony, albeit briefly. "I don't think so. Where's Catherine!" He yells at no one in particular and no one seems to notice.

"Jack's given us our best leads today.", Tony won't let go.

"And I'm still in charge and Hammond's in charge so that's it. End of discussion!" George heads for his office. There has to be a way to get reconnected with these people who are threatening Michael.

Tony takes a look at Andre's work. Then notices Michelle seems to be heavily engaged in some business of her own. Taking note, he listens closely as he nears her position. "Important?" He mouths.

Michelle nods to Tony as she answers to Kim. "I will." to Tony: "It's Kim. Call Lisa."

Then she continues talking to Kim. "Kim, there is an agent out looking for you. Her name is Lisa Elliott, she's with CTU Sacramento. We'll send her to pick you up, okay? Go to that grocery store and wait there. She'll find you. Everything's going to be fine."

**CTU bathroom**

Catherine walks to the bathroom and after checking the cubicles, takes out a cell phone and dials a number. She waits.

"Yes?"

"It's Catherine. Kim just called. They'll be sending out a team to get her. Bauer is gone."

**Nearing the 210 **

Lisa is fighting traffic trying to enter the freeway. She always loved LA but hated this part, the only drawback of the city, especially now. What if Kim isn't in Santa Monica? The question reverberates through her brain. It's possible the woman didn't take her there. Kim could have asked to go home, they could be going to any number of locations - maybe even CTU. And Michael. Poor Michael. She was so mean to him. Lisa lets her head fall against the headrest, momentarily giving into the stress of the day. So much had happened in so little time.

She picks up her cell to call Jack then puts it down again. What would she say? There wasn't anything new. They were all just waiting.

**outside of CTU **

This went down too quickly. George doesn't usually react to Hammond's orders this fast. Jack starts walking to the garage. At least make it _look _like you're leaving , he's thinking to himself.

This time, Jack walks, not drives, past Dave, who's obviously on the same long shift as the rest of the staff. "Hey, Jack."

"Hi Dave."

"Leaving?"

"Yeah. Nothing left for me to do here. See you 'round."

Jack finds his SUV and climbs inside but doesn't start the engine. No way he's leaving. Not now that things are beginning to make sense. Maybe...

Jack pulls out his cell and looks up a number. He reflects on it for a second or two, then dials it.

"Operator."

"This is Federal Agent Jack Bauer, 4393 CTU. I need to speak to the President."

"The President isn't available right now."

"Then find him. This is a matter of national security, it is urgent, I need to speak to him now."

"I'll see what I can do sir. Hold on."

"Thank you."

**CTU **

Tony scrambles to get Lisa's cell number and dials, "Lisa, Michelle's got Kim on the phone."

"What!" Lisa's so startled she has to pull over to the side of the freeway she has just managed to get onto. "Where? Tell me where."

He pulls up a transcript of Michelle's conversation and finds Kim's location. "Okay, she's near the 210 going to Pasadena and will be waiting in a grocery store."

"A grocery store near the 210...Okay, that must be the Home Food Market. I'm two miles away." Lisa hangs up without another word. She wants the line open for any further information.

**Store **

Kim browses the aisles as she waits for Lisa. She almost feels giddy with excitement as she passes the other customers. She's going home!

**CTU **

Michelle turns to Tony when she ends her call. "Tony. Don't tell Jack about this yet. Not until Kim is safe." She glances around but is puzzled when she doesn't see Jack. "Where is he?"

"Uh, we had a bit of a situation." The timing is peculiar. A little too peculiar. "George claims Hammond called and wanted Jack tossed out before he got down here." Tony glances up at George's office, "Hammond hasn't shown. But now we find out Kim is safe? Come on. Something's not right."

"It is strange... Let's just keep an eye on George, okay?" Michelle is puzzled. Just who was there who could be trusted these days? But now they have a problem. "Tony, the teams are ready to go out to Miramar. Jack was supposed to lead the mission, who's going to do it now? Is it even going to happen?"

**Outside CTU main office**

Catherine bumps into Jennie. "What the hell are you doing here? This is not your shift."

Jennie smirks at Catherine, "Seems someone can't do her job alone. The boss called me in and it's amazing he didn't sooner. You've always been lazy, Cathy. It was just a matter of time til someone noticed." She flips her hair and curtly turns away to head for her desk.

"Bitch!" Catherine calls after Jennie as she watches her make her way to the desk. Things are getting complicated. She goes to the bathroom to make another call.

**Store **

Lisa comes upon the store quickly after pulling off the freeway. Very few people remain as she parks and enters. A blonde girl is strolling in the corner. "Kim?"

"Are you...?" Kim stays put until she can verify identity.

Lisa pulls out her badge, "Lisa Elliott, a friend of your dad's. You're safe now," she smiles warmly and puts her arm around Kim's shoulders. "Let's get you home."

**CTU garage**

Jack is sitting in the car, impatiently drumming his fingertips on the steering wheel. Just what is taking so long?

**11:59:57 --- 11:59:58 --- 11:59:59 --- 00:00:00**


	17. Chapter 17

**The following takes place between midnight. and 1 a.m. **

**00:00:01 --- 00:00:02 --- 00:00:03 --- 00:00:04**

**yet another car **

John is following the tracker on his panel. "Wait, she stopped. Turn left here. Stop." He glances up. A grocery store. He has a puzzled look on his face. "What the hell?..."

"Maybe she got hungry..."

"Or maybe she's screwing with us. She might have found the tracker."

But just then, he sees Lisa and Kim exit the store. "Wait..." He smirks. "We got 'em." John pulls out his phone while they watch the two women get in a car and drive off. They follow.

**CTU **

"Nick, I think they're on to me, they brought someone new in. Either to replace me or to monitor me. Both are not good."

"Find a way to stay in and keep Bauer out. That's all you need to do. And stop calling like this, they'll trace the call."

"Fine. But they're coming to Miramar."

"Doesn't matter. They'll be too late."

"Fine." Catherine hangs up and walks out of the bathroom.

**George's office**

George gets another phonecall from John. "Mr. Mason. Did you get rid of Bauer?"

George clears his throat to answer. "Yes... I would ask if my agent is still alive but I'm going to guess you'll just answer yes and not give me proof. So now I'd like to know why I just did what I did? Any little tid bit you'd like to throw my way?"

**CTU **

Tony sighs deeply. "I have no idea who's going to lead that mission. I can't. I don't know another competent agent who can. Unless Baker's available, but he'd have to be briefed and that would take time that we dont' have."

"Well, let's bring Baker in then. He's our best shot."

Tony nods. "Yeah." Another glance at George's office. He's on the phone. "Hey..." Tony gently pulls Michelle over to her desk, "Can we see who George is talking to? I know his line is secure but can we get by the security?"

"Sure." Michelle transfers the call and hands Tony a headset. "Our side is muted. You can listen in, they won't hear anything."

**Jack's SUV **

Operator: "Agent Bauer?"

"Yes, I'm here."

"You're on with the President."

"Thank you."

Mike Novick sits in the corner of the room while Palmer takes the call.

David Palmer: "Jack. It's been a while. How are you holding up?"

"Mr. President. I'm fine, thank you, Sir."

"Glad to hear that. How's your daughter?"

"Sir, that is one of the reasons I am calling. She got kidnapped earlier this morning, right after the assassination of AG Mills."

Jack walks him through the main events of the day and concludes with the lead they have on the Miramar Naval AF Base.

"Mr. President, these people have wanted me off the case all day today and a few minutes ago, George Mason threw me out of the CTU, apparently he had been ordered by Division to do so."

"And you don't believe it?"

"No, Sir. I don't. And I need your help to find out what really happened."

"You think Mason may have been blackmailed?" Palmer is certain he won't like the answer to his question.

"Yes, sir, I do. I have to get back inside CTU and keep working on the case. It is the only way to get to these people before it's too late _and_ rescue my daughter."

Palmer mulls this over, but for just a second. The man saved his life, he owes him that much. "Alright Jack. I'll do what I can."

"Thank you Mr. President."

Palmer hangs up the phone and starts thinking of who to call next. Jack leans back in the car seat. If anyone can help him now, it's David Palmer.

**CTU**

With barely a move, Jennie manages to mirror Catherine's directories to her system. She continues to work on the back up assignment she was given as the information filters through.

**Lisa's Car / Jack's SUV**

"First things first, are you okay?", Lisa glances at Kim.

Kim smiles and rubs her ankle, "Overall, not too bad for everything that's happened today. Exactly how do you know my dad?"

"Work." Lisa leaves it at that and passes Kim her cell. "And I think he would like to hear from you. You can dial him directly."

"Thanks," Kim waits as the ringing continues until she hears the line picked up, "Dad? Daddy? It's me, I'm coming home. I'm so sorry for everything...and..." the tears held back earlier are flowing now. Lisa can hardly keep herself from crying. "Daddy, I love you. I just want to come home."

Relief. Plain relief and happiness is all he feels right now. Jack closes his eyes. Kim's safe and with Lisa.

"I love you too, sweetheart. It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be alright." He wishes he could just take her in his arms and hug her. "I thought I'd lost you... Thought I'd never see you again... I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you."

"You've always been here. Um..." she looks over at Lisa briefly, "I'm going to let you talk to Lisa. I love you." Kim wipes her eyes after handing over the phone.

"Hey, she's fine. We're on a back road off the 210. I'm taking a shortcut, hopefully no one will locate us this way. Jack," Lisa sighs, "it's been a long day and things have happened..." Kim looks up to see Lisa glance briefly at her. "You deserve to be happy again, Jack."

**Phonecall to George **

"No." John chuckles. "Actually, fine. Keeping Jack off our toes was your first assignment. It proved you are ready to co-operate. Your second one will be to stop the mission your agency is about to send out."

"Now hold on a minute," George cannot believe this. It would never work. "Throwing out Jack Bauer, that I can do. Stopping a mission, I can't. It would throw up red flags everywhere. It's just not possible."

Tony nudges Michelle, "The mission. Someone wants George to stop it."

"George is being blackmailed? Well, that explains certain things.", Michelle is not pleased to hear all this. Not at all.

"I am sure you will find a way, Mr. Mason. You know what's at stake. This conversation is over." The line disconnects.

"The caller disconnected," Tony puts the headset away, and looks at Michelle "But he did say 'You know what's at stake'. Other than national security, what's at stake?"

"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."

**Jack's SUV **

Time to be happy.. "Yeah, well... Maybe." It's going to be hard to get there. The longer Kim was missing, the more Jack's thoughts revolved around that day several months ago when he almost lost everything he cared about. He is well aware that happiness isn't just around the corner. Not for him. Not for anyone.

"Lisa, thank you for finding her. I owe you everything today. Head straight back to CTU, okay?" His phone produces a beep. "Look, I gotta go, I have another call. Be careful."

Jack switches to the other call. "Bauer."

"Jack. It's David Palmer."

"Mr. President. Did you get the information?"

"Yes. I've had my people check it. George Mason never received a phone call from Division in the last hour. But he has been getting phonecalls from a scrambled cell phone. "Somewhere in California" was the best they were able to give me on a location. You could be right about him being blackmailed." Palmer pauses. "Jack. You're doing a great job, especially under the circumstances."

"Thank you sir."

"Any news about your daughter?"

"I just got a call from Kim Sir. She's alright."

"That's wonderful. I hope you get to see each other soon."

"Thank you Mr. President. I'll get in touch with you when the Miramar mission goes under way."

Jack hangs up and storms out of his vehicle and to the staircase. No guards in sight. He runs up the stairs and stops behind the back door to take a good look around the office. Jennie has arrived, Catherine is at her desk. If she is a mole, she has to keep thinking that he is not there. Jack calls up Jennie.

"Don't say anything, just listen. This is Jack Bauer. I need you to report to me on Catherine's actions and not to mention to anyone that you've talked to me. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Alright, I'm back in the building. Keep an eye on her, she can't know I'm here."

"Understood."

"Thank you.." Then Jack dials Michelle's number. "It's Jack. I'm gonna need a diversion to get to George's office unnoticed, especially by Catherine or the cameras, can you do that?"

Michelle glances at Tony, he probably understands who she's on the phone with. "I can. I'll call you when it's safe to go."

"Alright." Jack hangs up and leans against a wall, making himself as thin as possible, to hide from everyone's view.

**John's car **

John is looking out of the window, thinking. Then he stares at Lisa's car, driving right in front of them for a while. "Seems like we're gonna need them anyway. Mason is stalling."

"Okay.", Bill nods.

The car speeds up and quickly gains on Lisa's car. It's a narrow backroad, no traffic. They're gonna try and push them off the street.

Lisa hears an engine somewhere close by and at the same time the sound is compounded by Kim's talking. "Tell me again how you know my dad?" It's an honest enough question that Kim thinks has an answer to it more than just dealing with work.

"I knew him years ago when he, George Mason, and I were really just beginning..." Lisa catches a glare in her rear view mirror that forces the caution light on in her mind. "Uhm, Kim... do me a favor and sit just a little lower in your seat."

"Someone's following us... aren't they?"

Lisa tries not to overreact as she swerves the car slightly, "We'll know in a minute."

**CTU **

Knowing where the security cameras are, Jack hides behind a pillar and waits for Michelle to call. Occasionally, he glances at the glass door separating him from the office and holds his key card ready in his hand.

Michelle freezes the security cameras in a back staircase no-one ever uses but that leads to the floor George's office is on. She sends a message to Jennie, instructing her to keep Catherine away for at least 10 minutes. Then she creates an error message and sends it to Catherine, which pops up on her screen a few seconds later.

Catherine is puzzled. "Michelle, I'm getting an error message on server six. I can't get through. What do I do?"

Michelle goes over to Catherine's desk and takes a look at the error message, like she doesn't know how it happened. "You need proper clearance for that sector, the IT must have forgotten to update your codes. You can go over and ask them to, but you'll need a higher-ranking agent to confirm that. Except I'm kinda busy right now... Jennie, why don't you go with Catherine?"

"No, that's alright, Michelle, I'll just work in a different sector.", Catherine dismisses the suggestion. She doesn't want to be thrown out of the room, for whatever reason, and she sure as hell doesn't want to go anywhere with Jennie.

"You need your codes up-to-date at all times. Don't argue with me. Go to the IT. It's an order."

"Fine." Catherine gets up and glares at Jennie. "You comin' or what?"

Jennie sighs, as if very annoyed to be sent to babysit Catherine, then joins her and heads out of the office with her.

**Palmer **

Palmer is now on the phone, talking with Brooks.

"Mr. President, if you think this threat is real, you have to take action against it.", the Sec Def advises.

"You're right, Stephen. But I don't have any particulars, I wouldn't know what to say to anyone. I have to wait until Bauer calls with more information."

"Then Bauer is still on the case?", Brooks gives Palmer a questioning look.

"Yes. He is."

**CTU / George's office**

Michelle watches as Catherine and Jennie walk away, then she gives Jack a call. "You're clear to go Jack. Use the back staircase, it's dark. So is George's office."

"Okay. Thanks."

Michelle takes Tony aside. "Jack is back in. Don't tell anyone."

Jack dashes off and climbs the stairs to George's floor. A quick glance down to Michelle through the separating glass, then he walks in and closes the door behind him. George is startled and wants to say something, but Jack doesn't allow it. "Shut up George."

Jack walks over to the windows and closes the blinds, then installs himself before George, and mounts the silencer onto his gun. "Sit."

George obeys unwillingly, then Jack sits down on a chair across from George and places the weapon on the desk in front of him.

"Tell me what's really going on here. I know you didn't talk to Hammond. Who are you working for?"

**Lisa's Car**  
"She noticed us. Go ahead." John orders Bill.

The car accelerates and bumps into Lisa's car from behind. The vehicles stay attached as the driver steps on the gas even more and then tries to direct Lisa's car off the road.

Between Kim's screams and metal grinding, Lisa is losing control of the car. "Hold on! Just grab on to anything you can!" If she brakes, the sparks could start a fire and there is no way to tell if the fuel tank is damaged. "Call 911!"

Kim grabs for the phone, "It's just beeping!"

"Roll down the window!"

She does as told and still just beeping. No signal. Another jerk from behind and Kim loses the phone on the floorboard of the car.

The jerk has thrust Lisa's hands off the steering wheel, forcing the car onto an embankment. Both women are thrown forward, Kim's head hitting the dashboard, Lisa's hitting the steering wheel.

**CTU - IT**  
Jennie rolls her eyes as she follows Catherine to IT. "You're gonna hafta get off your high horse. What bothers you about me anyway? We're just going to confirm your codes and that's it!"  
She sarcastically smiles as she opens the IT door and lets Catherine past first. Can't let down the unfriendly front for a second.

"Heya, Rich, Cathy needs clearance codes updated for server six."

Rich glances up, "You got your passcode, Jennie?"

"Sure do," Jennie types it in, "How long's this gonna take?"

"No one knows until we see how far back we are on updates. We really should be doing this on a daily basis." Rich doesn't look at the women while speaking. He's too engrossed in his work. "Don't be afraid of IT. We're here to help you..."

**Miramar **

A Rear Admiral is quickly walking down the hall. He arrives at the door to the interrogation room and orders to the guard outside it. "Open up."

"Yes, Sir."

The door is opened and the RAdm walks in, interrupting the interrogating officer. "That's enough. I'll take it from here."

"Yes, Sir." The officer and the other soldier exit, leaving Karen and the RAdm alone. When the door is safely closed, he hands her a wet towel.

She cleans the blood off her face and gets up and says. "You're late."

**00:59:57 --- 00:59:58 --- 00:59:59 --- 01:00:00**


	18. Chapter 18

**The following takes place between 1 am and 2 am**

**01:00:01 --- 01:00:02 --- 01:00:03 --- 01:00:04**

**George's Office**  
"Come on, Jack, what do you think you're doing? Disobeying orders is one thing, waving a gun around is another and doing it not too long after your wife's death doesn't look good." 

Jack's demeanor tells George it's not time to play games. He probably shouldn't be playing since the man has a gun pointed at him.

George sighs heavily as he puts his head in his hands, then faces Jack. "I don't know who it is. But I know they have Michael and are threatening to kill him. I did some checking and I know that you sent Michael with Lisa. Where was Lisa going, Jack? She was going to find Kim. So what are the odds that these men grabbed Michael without knowing where Lisa is? Huh? Tell me that! You ask me who I'm working for?" He pauses. "Right now, I'm working for you. The longer Michael stays alive, the longer these people are willing to negotiate."

George is right. Whoever got to Michael is probably after Lisa and Kim as well. The news are very alarming to Jack. But Jack doesn't let the worry show. He has to finish this up first. He eyes George carefully. He doesn't touch the gun on the desk, but only glances at it briefly, but yet long enough to make his point. Then he glares at George again.

"It doesn't look like they're _negotiating_ with you, George." This sounds exactly like the situation he has been in this morning. "What do they want you to do besides keep me out of CTU?"

**the road**  
In a matter of seconds, Lisa and Kim are pulled out of the car, tied up and thrown into the back seat of the car. John moves to the front seat and the car drives off again.

In the trunk, Michael is awake. He has carried a laceration from the crash and it's bleeding. He hears female voices from the inside of the car. Could it be Lisa? And is that Kim?

**CTU - IT**  
"Look, we'll only be a minute. Rich tells Catherine."

"Yeah. Whatever." Catherine is bored. To Jennie: "Look, I didn't come to work today to be babysitted. You gave him clearance, I was here, I don't feel like waiting around. I'm outta here. He doesn't need us standing around here waiting."

"No, I don't think so." Jennie jumps infront of Catherine. "We have to have your ID and thumbprint to finalize clearance codes. You know we can't just send them to your system. As soon as Rich is ready, he'll let you know. Until then, we wait. Here. What's the big deal? I'm running back up. It's not like you're going to be fired."

"Yeah like hell I'm not! And you're gonna swallow my job as well like you did back then and get paid twice what you get now. Good plan."

Catherine glares at Jennie for a while, then, since Jennie won't move out of her way, she turns around with a loud sigh and heads back to Rich. "You wanna wait. Fine. We'll wait." She checks her watch. "Damn, won't this day ever end?"

**outside the Miramar compound**  
Nick and Mick are heading up two teams, that are closing in on the compound, but still are far enough not to be noticed from the inside. Noiselessly, they move across the ground, getting into position.

**inside**  
Karen is now being led down the hall by the RAdm, cuffed, but grinning.

"I'm moving the prisoner. Direct orders from the Admiral.", he tells the guard.

"Yes Sir.", the guard at the compound door answers. He wouldn't dare question his authority. As they reach a dark area surrounded by the trees, he uncuffs her and hands her a package and her weapons. "Twenty minutes. East exit."

"I'll be there.", Karen replies.

"Of course you will." He turns around and disappears in the coppice.

**George's office**

"You don't know everything, Jack.", George sighs. But neither does he. There hasn't been another phone call for a while and he has no indication there will be. "They want the Miramar mission stopped. No one goes into the naval base. You see what's going on here?"

George leans forward, "The day starts with me being left out then suddenly I've got agents in danger, threats being made, and I'm still left out. Now why did I just send orders to have the Miramar team stand down? Because it's done. Just as you walked in I transmitted the orders."

"WHAT!" Jack is bewildered. "You're calling it off? George you can't do that, we're about to close in on the Petrovs."  
And then it hits him. "But of course they knew that. How did they find out about the mission in the first place?"

Jack and George stare at each other for a second, they both know they're having the same thought. "Catherine." Jack picks up George's phone and dials downstairs. "Tony. Bring Catherine up to George's office. Now."

"Jack's asking for Catherine." Tony whispers to Michelle before heading to IT. They both know this isn't good.

**The Road**  
Kim is crying loud enough to irritate the men in the car. "Shh," Lisa tries to calm her down but it fails to work - not that she is doing any better.

"I'm a Federal Agent, you've committed a federal crime. You let us out now and we'll work out a deal, okay? You won't gain anything by taking us!" Lisa squirms so that her feet are propped against the back of the driver's seat and begins to kick forcefully. "STOP THE CAR! STOP NOW!"

Lisa can't do this on her own. Kim turns her crying into ear piercing screams. She was in a police car this morning, she'll do what she did. Turning around in the seat, she pounds her feet against the window sending sharp pain shooting through her ankle. But there's a crack. She pounds again. And again. Suddenly the window shatters.

John turns around pointing the gun at Kim but calmly looking at Lisa. "Stop it, both of you. Now. You're a Federal Agent, you'll do as you're told or Kimberley gets a bullet in her head. I don't think that's what you want, is it?"

Kim is very still and stares at the gun pointed at her. Everything in the car seems to be on hold. Even Lisa.

Lisa brings her feet back down to the floor. She is not in a position to dare this man to try anything. Not yet. She watches him very carefully and tries to pay attention to his placement of the gun. "What are you going to do? You can't get a ransom paid for federal agents. The government doesn't negotiate."

"That's right. The government doesn't negotiate. _People_ negotiate. And most importantly, people do what they're told to do if you have the right cards in your hand. Besides, I'm sure you know this isn't about ransom. Now be two good girls and just sit tight."

John sighs. They should have just picked up Kim and gotten rid of this woman before...

**CTU - IT**  
A knock at the door catches Jennie's attention. Tony pulls her out after she opens it. "How much has been done in here?"

Jennie shakes her head, "Um...we're updating her clearance codes but nothing more. What's going on?"

"I can't tell you but you've been a great help. Go back to your desk and don't say anything to anyone. Take over Catherine's work, okay?", he whispers.

Tony enters the IT room, "Hey, Rich, can you give us a minute?" After Rich exits, Tony doesn't smile when he addresses Catherine. "George has a problem with one of his directories and he wants you to get into it for him. He said you knew the passcode and it was urgent."

Catherine is suspecting this isn't about the passcodes. George would never get her to do it, he'd ask someone with more experience. She was just a rookie... "Well why don't he get that lil bitch over there to do it, I'm sure she'd be glad to suck up some more."

**Car**

Lisa decides that she needs to try and get Kim out. "Alright, you want to negotiate with people?" Lisa glances at Kim, "Let her go. You don't need her, just pull over and let her out. You don't even have to untie her arms, just her legs so she can walk." Silence. "Hey! I'm talking to you! You want to negotiate! Here I am! Or... don't you have a plan?"

Listening to Lisa it's easy for Kim to understand how her dad could work with this woman. They don't give up. As unbelievable as it seems, she is glad to be in this position with Lisa.

John glances towards the back and grins. "A plan? Uhm... let me see. We've just kidnapped two government agents and the daughter of the only man who can cross our intentions. But no, I don't think we have a plan."

He laughs hysterically. "Okay, I'll admit, you and your colleague weren't intended to come along for the ride, but as it turns out, it worked even better for us. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make a call."

Two government agents? Lisa immediately understands they've got Michael, too. So she was right to leave the hospital immediately. They must have followed her to Kim. She curses herself for not being more careful.

**CTU IT**  
"He didn't ask for Jennie, he asked for you. Come on, the boss asks you to do something, you do it." Tony takes her arm, "Rich will wait to finish the codes but George won't. You don't want to get fired do you?" He edges her out the door but he can feel her holding back.

"Fine." Catherine furrows her brow, but follows Tony to the main office, then walks upstairs to George's office. Opening the door, she's shocked to see Jack inside and starts backing off, but finds that Tony is still behind her and there's nowhere to run.

"What is Jack doing here? This isn't about the codes, is it George? I guess we can cut the Mr. Mason crap now, right?"

"Tony, stay by the door and keep it shut." George walks up to Catherine, "You've been quite the busy one today, haven't you? Running back up, doing cross-checks for us... Tell me, Catherine. Who has Michael and why do they want Jack off the case? Don't even try to say you don't know anything because we know you do. We have phone logs and security camera footage that proves it! So talk!" He knows Jack knows he's lying. But maybe he can pull the bluff with her.

"No, no, you have nothing on me... You can't." Her mind is racing. She's been so careful, they can't have anything. "I've done nothing wrong."

"We're running out of time here, Catherine." Jack pushes himself between her and George. "Catherine. Help us stop these guys, I'll help you cut a deal."

"You don't even work here any more, Jack. You don't have that kind of power."

"Of course I do."

"Forget it Jack. I talk, they'll kill me."

**Car**

Lisa edges across the seat to Kim. "You're going to be okay. Just stay quiet and calm like you have been."

Kim barely looks at her, "You think this is calm? These guys are going to kill us. I've been in situations like this before. They don't care."

"Right now we have to think differently." Lisa pointedly addresses the man now on the phone. "Let me guess... calling the boss? That means you have to take orders from someone? Wow. How sad."

John sighs. He's visibly annoyed by Lisa's chatter. "Shut up... You're starting to get on my nerves. I take orders. You take orders. And we're calling _your_ boss right now."

**George's office / Car**  
The phone rings. Catherine is startled, Jack and George exchange glances.

From his cell phone, Jack calls up Michelle to set up a trace quickly. When she's done, he nods at George to pick up. "Go ahead."

George answers quickly, "George Mason."

Her boss... George... Lisa yells as loud as she can, "George! Two men!" Bill pulls the car over quickly as she screams. There's no telling what's going to happen next.

George looks directly at Jack as he hears Lisa's voice mixed with the sounds of squealing tires. "Let me guess," George attempts to remain calm and focused like he would tell his agents to do, "you have new demands?" While speaking, he jots down a note and passes it to Jack: Lisa.

Lisa? Jack is suddenly panic-stricken. If they have Lisa, they have Kim again as well. This was much worse than he thought.

**Miramar, San Diego**  
Karen is waiting by the east exit, hidden between the trees. After a while, the Rear Admiral shows up. "Annabelle.", he utters silently.

She walks out of the hiding. "I'm here."

"Are the charges in place?"

"Of course. Everything is ready."

"Good. Let's go." 

The RAdm leads her through the bushes until they get to a small military vehicle, covered from view. She lifts the back seat and reveals a big enough space for her to hide in. When she's in, he drives off towards the gate.

**car / CTU**  
Bill gets out of the car and walks over to the trunk. He opens it. Michael's awake, but feeble and on the verge of passing out. There's a streak of blood across his face from the laceration, and the air inside the trunk has been scarce. "Get out.", he is ordered, but he doesn't move. Whether he can't or won't is not completely clear.

John: "Mr. Mason, the mission is under way again. What happened, did Bauer get to you?.."

John doesn't give George time to reply, it is as if he knows what's going on. He gets out of the car and walks to the back. In the meantime, Bill pulls Michael out of the trunk and forces him down on his knees.

John keeps talking as he approaches Michael and Bill. "...in which case, you would have violated both of our agreements and I have no choice but to show you how serious we are about our demands."

Michael knows this is the end. He closes his eyes as he feels the gun barrel touching his head.

Jack can hardly manage not to scream when two shots are heard through the telephone. Although he's trying not to show it, his mind is racing. _What have they done? What have they done!  
_  
With his foot, Bill turns Michael's body over, to make sure he's dead. Moving away from Michael's corpse, the two guys head back to the car. John speaks to George again.

"Now there's only the two girls left. Don't make me have to repeat myself."

As the shots ring out, Kim squeezes her eyes shut and buries her head in her knees. Who did they shoot? Who was in the trunk? "What are we going to do!", she whispers to Lisa.

Lisa has just enough time to glance behind her and see Michael fall. The men are coming back. She won't have time to react to anything. "We're not going to do anything. You're going to simply stay quiet and let me do the talking, okay? Don't do anything else, don't say anything else. If I don't get out, I don't care." She looks hard at Kim. "Focus on staying alive."

As the men enter the car, Lisa and Kim are quiet though Kim is still crying softly. "They need to know we're okay," Lisa states calmly, "Let us each say something."

**George's office**  
"No! NO! NO!" George slams his fist onto the desk. "You didn't have to do that! I assume the mission is continuing because the orders didn't get to the leaders on time! You didn't even give me a chance to respond!"

Still by the door and feeling like an outsider, Tony is watching these two men and Catherine. Their reactions are hard to judge but one thing is clear - nothing is going as expected.

"You want Bauer off the case? Well, I want something in return. Bauer is removed permanently once I speak directly to both of your hostages. If I don't, he stays and the mission goes forward. You have one minute."

George slams down the phone then faces the incredulous looks of the individuals in his office. "We can't play their games forever."

"What are you doing George! That's my daughter out there!" The words sputter out before he can think them through.

But he suddenly realizes George is right and gives in. "Come to think of it, I probably would have done the same thing. You can't let them have the power for too long... They'll call back." He hopes. He motions for Tony to come inside.

Jack gives a call to Michelle. "Did you get anything?"

"No, it's a scrambled cell."

"Dammit... Okay, thanks." Jack hangs up. The President had told him so, but it was at least worth a try.

Gun in hand again, Jack now faces Catherine, giving her a menacing look and speaking straight to her face: "Catherine, I wanna know right now what these people are up to and don't give me any more excuses."

"Jack, you don't know them, they'll kill me-"

"Right now, _they_ should be the least of your worries. I'm here, they're not. Whoever it is you're working for, they are holding my daughter hostage and unless you start talking right now, I'll kill you myself."

Catherine glares at him, then glances at George, and back at Jack. She's clearly contemplating the lesser of two evils. Jack or the people she is working for?

**the car**  
"He hung up on me." John turns to Lisa and Kim. "I guess your boss doesn't really care about the two of you that much."

John leans back in the seat, thinking about whether to call back or not, while the car continues down the road.

**CTU**  
Catherine sighs. It will take all of her courage to admit to Jack what she did. He's not joking and she knows it.

"Fine, Jack... Alright." She takes a deep breath before continuing. "I was supposed to give them the data on the undercover agents and make it look like we lost back up last night. And I know that the disc that was exchanged between Mills and the CIA agent contained a file on a secretly continued government program, it concerned something called SSBN. I was ordered to make disappear everything we had on that, so it wouldn't appear on the list. That's why we never came across it and it didn't raise any red flags with anyone."

Jack: "And that's all you did?"

"Except for keeping them up to date about what's going on here, yes."

Jack stares into her eyes for several seconds. He decides she could be telling the truth this time, she is scared.

The phone rings again. George picks up. "Okay, we'll do this your way. You can speak to them." John holds the phone to the back of the car.

George motions for Jack to get on the other line as the phone is passed on the other end.

John holds the phone to Kim's ear first, "Dad? Dad?"

"Kim, it's George Mason, your dad is on the other line. We don't have much time. Are you okay?"

"I'm scared and just want to go home..." her voice is soft and a whimper escapes, "They killed someone and-"

The phone is jerked away and passed to Lisa, "You're going to have to work quickly and carefully." She stares down the man with the gun, "These guys mean business. Jack... there's so..." If she lets herself go now she may never regain her composure. "They've got us tied up. We can't move- "

"Lisa? Kim?" George hears shuffling in the background but nothing worse. "If someone's there, answer!"

**Tony to Michelle**  
Tony grabs his cell and calls Jennie, "Immediately lock down Catherine's system and intercept all outgoing and incoming correspondence for the last year. Send it to Michelle's system."

"Got it. Anything specific I should look for?"

"Just get everything but keep an eye out for any information concerning abandoned government projects and SSBNs." 

Tony ends the call with Jennie and contacts Michelle. "We've got a serious security breach on our hands. Initate an internal lock down until we figure out how far Catherine got into things. We'll have to determine what information was compromised concerning undercover agents. She's the one who got into my system."

"Done." Michelle types away on her keyboard. "You mean Jack got through to her? That's good. Okay, the lockdown is in place... Tony, I'm receiving data streams from Jennie. I'll get back to you."

**Miramar**  
The RAdm steps out of the car, the gates are visible through the trees, far behind him. The ocean is right across the road.

He lifts the back seat and 'Annabelle' crawls out. "Nice how that worked." She checks her watch. "Soon."

**CTU**

John is back on the phone again. "We've done our part. Now you do yours. We'll be in touch." The line disconnects.

**01:59:57 --- 01:59:58 --- 01:59:59 --- 02:00:00**


	19. Chapter 19

**The following takes place between 2 am and 3 am**

**02:00:01 --- 02:00:02 --- 02:00:03 --- 02:00:04**

**Car Ride**  
Lisa is staring straight ahead, through the front windshield, and barely notices the silence that has overtaken the car. All she knows for certain is that Michael, a man she barely knew, is dead and that she and Jack's only child are being driven around in the dark by two terrorists who will stop at nothing to get what they want. She would give anything to turn back time, fix a few things, take back words spoken, speak words never said. Of all things she has fought for in her life, there is something she has never had - a life. This is it, she tells herself, survive this day and you get out for good.

The stars are bright tonight. Kim can see them clearly through the open window she broke out earlier. The chilly night air rushing in through the window makes the hairs on her arms stand up, and she's starting to feel stiff. She squirms in her seat, closer to Lisa, asking herself how much longer this ride is going to take. Her arms are starting to hurt from being twisted in a somewhat awkward position and her ankle, now cooling down again is constantly reminding her of her injury. Why is she being taken again? Why do these things always happen to her? Her dad must be worried sick about her now. But as much as she misses her mother, she is glad she's not here. Her mom couldn't take this again. Kim can't help but think back to how this started. If only she had decided to just not go with Tammy, she could be home now and doing the normal things she always did. She'd fight with her dad, he'd go to his bedroom, she to hers. They'd slam the doors and not talk to eachother for a while. At least they were together. But now... would she ever see him again? They only had each other and she had promised to take care of him. Kim focuses on a single, bright star and whispers a rhyme she memorized as a child. _Starlight, Star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight. _

**CTU**  
Jack hangs up the office phone after George's phonecall ended. "Good. You bought us time... They'll wait now." But someone brought Kim in danger by letting the mission continue and he knows it wasn't George. "Tony, did you order the mission to continue after George asked them to stand down?", he questions him.

Tony is shocked by Jack's question. "I've barely had contact with George today and I certainly wouldn't have gone over his orders even if I disagreed with him. But..." he asks the question that they are both now thinking, "who would have done it? Catherine hasn't been able to access her system. I don't believe Andre would have. And Michelle is on our side. You know she..." Tony trails off in thought before adding, "Let me make a call."

He turns from Jack to talk to Michelle. "Hey, a while ago George sent orders to have the Miramar mission leaders stand down but they've been overturned. Can you do a check to see if anyone has overridden them?"

"No need, Tony, I did it." She knows the consequences it might have but there's no use denying. "Tony, let me speak to Jack." Wordlessly, the phone is handed over.

"Michelle?"

"Look Jack, I ordered the mission to proceed."

"WHAT!"

"The team had called in to confirm George's order and I knew he was being blackmailed and that he wouldn't have given the order under normal circumstances. Jack, you would have made the same call. The mission is too important. I know I broke protocol-"

"Michelle, Michael just got killed because of what you did! And these people are now holding Kim and Lisa."

"Wha- How did they get to them!"

"I dunno. But right now, it is important that we make them believe we're co-operating. That is the only way I'm ever gonna see my daughter again. Do you understand me?"

"Okay. What do you want me to do?"

Jack glances at Catherine. "I'm going to have Catherine make a call that everything is as they want it to be. I need you to make it look like it is."  
"Make the field op's and you invisible?"

"Yes."

"You got it."

Jack hangs up and turns to Tony. "You're following the SSBNs. Hack into the system at the Miramar and get everything you find to the field team. They need to know what they're going up against. There is no time for me to get to San Diego before it's too late."

"You like giving orders, don't you Jack?" Catherine has finally found the courage to speak.

Jack points a finger at Catherine. "Don't try me, Catherine. You're going to do what I tell you to. Otherwise you're going to jail for treason. How does a life behind bars sound to you? Like fun?"

Not really. "No. I was just wondering what it is _you're_ going to do?"

Jack gives her a look for just a second. "I'm gonna get my family back."

**car**  
The car stops in front of a large complex. John gets out and is greeted by some guys who are waiting for them. Bill waits until Kim and Lisa, drowsy as they are, are pulled out of the car and carried toward the building, and then moves the car to a garage.

Kim doesn't struggle much with her ankle swelling rapidly but Lisa does her best to pay attention to their surroundings. Trees, hills, maybe the valley. She can't be certain in the dark. Her legs hurt from the ties around them and the beating she gave to the car seat.

How Jack or George or anyone will find them is a question she can't even begin to answer.

**CTU**

Tony intercepts Miramar traffic and reroutes the information to Agent Baker. He picks up schematics and previous traffic as well. Something's been up for several hours now.

**George's office**

George glares at Catherine, "You've committed more than one federal crime and you're going to have to get used to the idea of spending a life behind bars. You think those guys you've been helping are going to bail you out? They won't! Your only hope is that Lisa and Kim come out of this alive and that you don't have their lives on your hands as well!"

He now addresses Jack with a forcefullness he hasn't had in a very long time. "Get out there and do what you have to do. You'll have the full cooperation of this office. Bring them back alive."

"Thank you George." But first, he needs to find them.

Jack calls security to bring Catherine to a holding room and watch her. To George: "If they call you again, just keep them busy, okay? I'm going down to the office. I'll have Catherine call them later, hopefully they still think she's not been exposed. George, the President needs to be informed. These people are after a nuclear submarine with warheads that can be equipped to carry anything, including a virus. I don't have to tell you what kind of a threat that would pose to our country or any other country in this world."

"No..." George nods wearily. "I'll update the President."

Jack heads downstairs to see if Tony's got anything yet. As he is passing Michelle, she tries to apologize "Jack-" but he interrupts her. "We need to focus now. Are you in contact with the team on site?"

"Yes, half of the men are retreating to show our co-operation. The other half are staying behind and awaiting your orders."

"Has anyone contacted the Navy yet?"

"I don't know."

"Find out!"

Jack walks up to Andre and gives him the location on the 210. "This is where Lisa picked up Kim. Find her last location and follow her on satellite, CalTrans, whatever you can use, do it. Tell me where they are now."

Andre types in the coordinates Jack gives him then sends Lisa's cell number to the tracing system. The cell immediately begins returning results. 

Finally, Jack is at Tony's desk. "The SSBNs must be located near or at Miramar. Let's check all locations that are well enough hidden to allow for a continuation of the project. We can't allow the Petrovs to get to them."

"Jack, I've gotten about as deep into Miramar's system as I can without giving us away." Tony goes ahead and begins the search because he is well aware Jack isn't going to take no for an answer. And then his search hits upon something... "Two decommissioned ports at the south end of the base have been reactivated not too long ago. I can't find record of their use but," Tony brings up satellite reconnassience photos, "These were taken two days ago. There is wave movement indicative of something below the surface."

"That must be it. Good work. See if you can find any evidence of radioactivity around that area." If he does, the teams are screwed, Jack's thinking. 

"Jack, I traced Lisa to a grocery store where surveillance cameras show Kim leaving with her five minutes later. " Andre continues to filter through the results. "The store is off the 210, two miles from the Canyon exit. The last call Lisa made was five minutes later within three miles of that same location."

Michelle: "Andre, that's not good enough, we know that much already. We know where she was, find out where she IS. Trace the sats, communication, speeding cameras along the road, just find them!".

Jack walks over to Michelle. "Put me through to Baker." Michelle hands him the radio. "Channel one."

"Thanks. Tom, it's Jack. Do you copy?"

"Loud and clear, Jack."

"There is a strong possibility that at least one SSBN is on site. There is no way to tell if it's carrying nuclear warheads, but for now, we have to assume that for a fact."

"Copy that, Jack. We'll be careful. Where?"

"The south end of the base. Two decomissioned ports that have been reactivated. We're checking for radioactivity in the area now. Stand down until you hear from us."

"Understood. Over."

Michelle takes the radio back. "Jack, the kidnappers' demands have been met. The teams on site should be clear. As far as their other demand is concerned, you've left. I've manipulated sat feed of you leaving the building and uploaded them. It isn't perfect, but should be good enough for them to fall for it if they have access to the systems."

"Okay. We're just gonna have to take that chance. I'll have Catherine call them now."

**The building**  
Kim and Lisa are carried, their arms and legs still tied up, inside a vast hall, which is dark, apart from a patch in the middle. The spotlight on the ceiling is directed at a pole in the center of the room. They are placed on the floor within the illuminated area. Lisa's phone is found and taken off her. Then they are tied up to the pole, back to back, and John leaves.

Both wait in the dark for a moment before testing their new surroundings. Kim strains to make out Lisa's place behind her. "They took the phone?"

"Kim, don't give up on me," Lisa's voice is calm and reassuring, "We have to play by their rules right now. I want you to do what they ask. Don't struggle against these people unless what they want is going to put you in danger, okay?"

"Okay." She would have to trust her as her dad would, she had no choice in the matter anyway.

"How's your ankle?"

Kim shifts a little, pain shoots through her leg. "Sore. It's swelling again. I can feel the pressure against the ropes."

Lisa dares to take a chance. If there is a light on them, someone somewhere is watching. "Hello?" She calls out but receives back the echo of her voice. She tries again. "We could really use something to drink. Just a couple glasses of water, one for each of us."

"What now?" Kim whispers softly.

"We wait and see if anyone responds."

**CTU**  
Tony fights roadblocks set up by Navy Intelligence as he goes forward on his quest. He has managed to locate names of officers in charge of the decommissioned ports and has downloaded their medical records.

"Jack, the latest officer in charge of one port was recently released from duty due to medical reasons. The report cites flu-like symptoms, headaches, nausea, vomiting." He grimaces as he concludes, "Radiation poisoning. Classic signs. I can dig further but the two officers before him also were released due to medical reasons."

Jack looks up. Radiation poisoning? Not only were these people working on a forbidden project, but they weren't taking the necessary precautions, too.

"Tony, get through to Baker. Tell him you've confirmed the radioactivity. They can't risk going in. Send a HAZMAT unit within a couple of miles of the compound. I'm going to see Catherine."

**CTU**

"Okay, Michelle," Andre sends images to her system so she'll be informed, "we've got Lisa's car taking the 210 until the exit ramp that would lead back into Pasadena. She doesn't go to Pasadena. Instead she turns around and heads back to CTU via State Route 42. It's a shortcut that will help her avoid traffic. And avoid main satellite transmission. Her car is completely gone from the radar after she gets 50 feet onto 42."

**George's Office**  
This was going to be one of the toughest calls he had ever made and he hopes it goes as smoothly as possible. George dials the President directly to inform him of the current situation.

"Sir, I'm sorry you weren't brought up to speed earlier but we've been very busy just trying to keep a handle on things." George takes a deep breath, "We now currently have an agent and Jack Bauer's daughter being used as hostages and negotiating tools by terrorists who are seeking to keep us out of Miramar Naval Station for an unknown reason that has to do with today's assassination of The Attorney General. One of our employees has been taken into custody for her part in the conspiracy. The terrorists have made two demands. One, get Jack Bauer off the case. That I can do easily. The second demand is not so easy to meet. They want the Miramar mission ended or Agent Lisa Elliott and Kim Bauer are killed."

"Mr. Mason, Jack Bauer informed me on the events of the day. An hour ago, he said his daughter was safe. Now you're telling me these people have been able to get to her again?"

George confirms that. Palmer can't believe it. Jack must be going crazy with fear. But as much as he owes Jack, there is only one right thing to do. "Mr. Mason, I understand you are being blackmailed? I am certain that you are well aware of our policy. We do not negotiate with terrorists. You cannot give in to their demands."

George cringes at the phrase Palmer uses. He knows they can't negotiate but... "Sir, when the Drazens demanded we trade Bauer for Alexis Drazen, you saw that as permissable, yet that was negotiating with terrorists." He lets this sink in for a moment. "Lisa Elliott is a personal friend, Mr. President. Kim Bauer is Jack's daughter. I believe negotiating is the only chance we have given the circumstances of the situation. The decisions tonight have been made partly on emotion and partly on strategy. But we've been focused. We will remain focused, even through negotiation."

**CTU holding room**  
Jack walks in and sends the guard to wait outside. He holds a phone to Catherine.

"I want you to call Petrov and tell them everything's okay."

Catherine eyes him, but doesn't reach for the phone. "You know Jack, I've been thinking... Life behind bars isn't really what I've aimed for. Treason? No fun." She shakes her head as she speaks. "So, you see, I want a pardon before I do anything. From the President."

"There's no time for that."

"Then I guess we both lose."

Jack crouches in front of her, so that their eyes are at the same level. "Catherine, right now, only a few people know about this. I can handle George. And Tony and Michelle won't be a problem. I can help you get out of this. Make the call."

"No."

"Catherine, please."

"No, Jack. No."

"Catherine, why are you doing this? These people are about to steal a nuclear submarine, they can arm the warheads with whatever they want. Take a virus, if they launched it, it would kill everyone in a 100 mile radius. I can't believe you're willing to let all those people die, just for the money."

"It's not about money."

"Then what is it about?"

Catherine glares at him and pauses. "My father, Jack."

**the building where Kim and Lisa are**  
Several minutes later, someone walks in, holding two bottles of water. "There." He tosses the bottles to them and grins, because they're tied up and can't reach for it.

He turns to leave, still laughing to himself, but stops. "Ah, damn it..." He goes over to each of them and holds the bottle for them to drink. When they're done, he gets up again and begins to walk away, without a word.

**CTU holding room**  
Jack is astonished. "Your father?"

"Brian O'Neill. You blew the whistle on him two years ago, you sent him to jail! You betrayed your own people, Jack, I don't see how what I'm doing is any different."

"That's what this is all about? You hate me for putting your father in jail..." Jack can't believe this. Why do things always get personal around this office?

"My father was a good man, Jack. Now he's dead. He killed himself. Slit his wrists in prison."

"There is no doubt in my mind that he was. But he sold out. He compromised. "

Catherine stares at him, saying nothing.

"Catherine, your father was corrupt. He deserved what he got-"

"-and you'd do it again, right?", she interrupts, her stare challenging.

Jack gets up, holding her stare as he does so. "Yes. I would."

"Then this conversation is over." Catherine leans back in the chair and stares at the wall.

Jack glares at her in disbelief. He begins to realize he's not going to get through to her anytime soon.

**Miramar**  
A series of explosions tears the night sky apart. It is as if the night had turned into day.

Baker gets on the radio immediately, but it isn't working. "Dammit!" The blast must be interfering with the signal. What's going on here?

**CTU**  
Tony has just gotten off the phone with the HAZMAT team when the radio traffic at Miramar begins to run wild. Quickly he grabs the headset to listen but is shocked at what he hears. "MICHELLE!" Tony tosses her a headset, "Channel 3. Explosions at Miramar. Monitor while I try to get through to Baker, okay?" But he can't. The signal is flat. "Tell me this is a nightmare," he groans.

Andre has news of his own. Browsing through recent reports from the sheriff's department outside of Pasadena, he stumbles across a car crash near to where he lost track of Lisa. They have deputies on the scene of the crash with unknown injuries because the driver and passenger are both gone. "Tony," Andre doesn't care what he's interrupting, "Deputies found Lisa's car."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, the license checks back to CTU and her badge was found on the floorboards. No one was inside but they can tell it was forced off the road."

"Okay..." Tony glances to the area where Jack is, "I'll let him know. At least it's a start."

**The building**  
"Wait!" Lisa struggles to lift herself as far off the ground as she can. This man has come this far, she is not about to let him go. "Hey, what's your name? Mine's Lisa. I just want to thank you for the water. We really appreciate it."

Kim quickly chimes in and follows Lisa's lead. "Yeah, thank you."

"I have one more favor to ask..." Lisa sees there is interest in the man's eyes. "Her ankle," she motions with her head towards Kim but isn't going to volunteer Kim's name, "she hurt it earlier today. Could you loosen the ties around her legs so she can move and her ankle won't swell?" Lisa smiles as politely and sincerely as she can. "It was really nice of you to bring the water."

"No, Ma'm, can't do that..." The man turns around but doesn't approach them. "I'm sorry. I have my orders."

But then, he looks around, there's no-one there. "I could take a look at it if you like. Maybe bring some ice or something..."

**Palmer/George call**  
"I understand that, Mr. Mason." Palmer reflects a little before replying further. He knows Jack would do anything to protect his family, and having to go through this twice in such a short time won't help convince him to follow protocol.

"Mr. Mason, what are you doing to pinpoint Ms Elliott's and Miss Bauer's location? This negotiation can only be acceptable if it leads us to the people who are behind all this. Is Jack Bauer still on the case?"

"We're doing what we can. I've got agents scanning satellite transmissions and cell phone feeds to trace their movements after Kim was picked up. Bauer is still on the case but the men involved believe he's off, that's what they've been told."

The fact that Palmer seems to be coming aboard floods George with relief. It's always good to have the President behind you.

"Alright. Proceed as planned. Keep me informed. I want an update every 30 minutes at least. Tell Bauer he has my full support."

"Thank you, Mr. President." George ends the call.

**CTU holding room**  
Jack is still glaring at Catherine, his hand on his chin. Personal. When things get personal, there's only one thing that he can do.

"Catherine, I don't care what reasons you had to do what you did, but that's my daughter out there, and you should know me well enough to know I will do anything to get to her before these people can hurt her. So I'll ask you one last time: Make the call."

"NO!"

"Fine." Jack draws his gun, pulling the slide back, and places it to her forehead as he takes the safety off, staring coldly into her eyes. "Make - the call."

Catherine's heart is pumping fast, she's trying to stay calm. Her reason tells her that Jack can't kill her, not within the CTU walls. But then again, with Jack, you never know. She's getting nervous and breathing fast.

She finally gives in and grabs the phone. "Fine, Jack. Alright."

"Thank you." Jack says, moving to her side, the gun at her temple now. "Don't screw up."

**Miramar / CTU**  
Baker is still trying to reach CTU. Jack said not to move, but now there's been an explosion, things will be moving fast.

Michelle is trying every channel, even SatCom. She gets a signal, though it is disturbed and cracking. "Baker? Baker do you copy?"

"...chelle... losion... attack..."

"Tony, I got something! Baker, we know about the explosions, are you alright?"

Baker also hears only snatches of what she's saying, but the alright bit comes through clearly. "Yes, we are. Are we still dark? Repeat, are we still dark?"

Dark? They should be. If they haven't moved. "Yes. Stay where you are. Wait for Jack's orders. Repeat, wait for Jack's orders. Confirm."

"Copy that. Waiting for Jack's orders. Over."

Michelle looks at Tony, he doesn't seem to agree completely. "We have to wait for Jack. It's his daughter out there. He said to stand down until he says otherwise..."

Baker gets off the radio. Hopefully Michelle is right to wait. Though he's questioning her decision... He's going to follow the order he's been given.

**CTU holding room / Miramar**  
Catherine is holding the phone to her ear. "Nick isn't picking up."

"Try again!"

"Jack, he isn't picking up. There's no use."

"Dammit!" With his free hand, Jack pulls out his cell and calls Michelle, not moving from where he is and not taking the gun away from Catherine's head. "Michelle, what's going on at Miramar?"

"There's been an explosion. Baker's team is waiting for you."

"I'll be right out." Jack hangs up. To Catherine: "Do you have any other numbers you can reach anyone else?"

"No."

"I don't believe you."

"I don't Jack! I DON'T!", she protests, now close to tears.

There's no time for this. They're going to have to find another way to contact these people. "Fine."

Jack holsters his gun again and leaves the room, sending the guard back inside. He runs over to Tony and Michelle.

**Miramar**  
Nick had turned off his phone, with what they're about to do, it's not the time to chat. His men are in position, about to strike. They all watch as panic ensues within the compound. The charges had blown up the ammo stocks and the airfield.

Nick gets on the radio with Karen. "How are things at your end?"

"Perfect. They're dispatching most of the staff to the Northern end of the compound, to the area of the explosion. It should be easy to get to the south end."

"That's good. We're moving in now."

He motions to his men to begin moving forward. The gate is almost unguarded now, two shots from the hiding and they are safe to draw near it. It takes just a few seconds to break it open. One by one, the men enter the premises unnoticed.

**CTU main office**  
As Jack approaches Tony, there's a ringing of a cell phone nearby. They look around. It's Catherine's.

**02:59:57 --- 02:59:58 --- 02:59:59 --- 03:00:00**


	20. Chapter 20

**The following takes place between 3 am and 4 am**

**03:00:01 --- 03:00:02 --- 03:00:03 --- 03:00:04**

**CTU**  
No one moves as Catherine's cell rings. But Tony still has the information about Kim and Lisa to tell Jack yet now... Now may not be the time. "Andre," Tony points quickly to the phone.

"Got it." Andre hooks a wire into the base of it and immediately plugs into it's cellular panel. "Once it's answered, I'll need 60 seconds for a good trace."

"If it's not answered and this is the Petrovs, we're going to blow it, Jack. Get Catherine."

"Transfer it to the holding room!" Jack grabs the phone and runs to the holding room. "Answer the phone!", he yells at Catherine as he hands it to her. "Keep him on for at least one minute!"

Not wanting to provoke another gun-to-her-head moment, she takes it, reluctantly, and answers. "Yes?" Jack puts on a headset and listens in.

"Catherine, can you talk?"

She throws a glance at Jack. "Yes."

"Where is Bauer?"

"They sent him home."

John pauses. Did they? "Really... And he left? Just like that?"

"Not voluntarily. The security has been ordered not to let him back in. He's gone."

"Fine. Listen carefully. The mission is under way. It is absolutely crucial that their whole team backs off. Of course, Nick could simply take them out, but he can't find them. They're well covered. You need to send their location to Nick's panel immediately."

Catherine shivers at the killing glance Jack is giving her. "I... I don't think I can do that. Like I said to Nick earlier, they might be on to me, I have to be careful. Besides, Mason ordered the team to stand down a while ago, they shouldn't be there any more."

"Well, I'm not so sure they have left. Catherine, do what you can. We need you now."

"Fine. I'll try."

The line disconnects. She turns to Jack. "Great. Now what?"

Jack places a call to Andre. "Did you get him?"

Andre glances at Tony while he speaks to Jack, "We only went 50 seconds. I can triangulate the signal but that'll take awhile, probably 15, 20 minutes. It would have been immediate had we gotten the full minute."

"Jack, it's Tony," Tony breaks into the conversation before Jack can start yelling, "Lisa's car was found. Indications are it was forced off the road and she and Kim were taken." George is now by his desk. "We don't have a clear lead yet as to where they are but we're working on it and we'll get it. Another thing... there was an explosion at Miramar while you were with Catherine. Michelle got through to Baker but we don't know what caused the explosion."

**The building**  
Lisa can't see her but Kim's eyes are wide. The thought of this man, or any of the men, coming near her is enough to send her into a panic. But Kim believes Lisa wouldn't put her into danger. She wouldn't.

"You could do that?" Lisa smiles again though her heart is pounding heavily in her ears. The fear... it has become so... intense. Like nothing she has ever known. This isn't like her, she would never talk to her captors in a different situation. "Are you a doctor? You know..." she takes a deep breath, "doctors have compassion, like you. You don't belong with these people."

"A doctor? Not exactly.", he laughs. "But I've had some experience with broken limbs." He starts to Kim and begins loosening the rope around her ankles. Their eyes meet for a moment, but he looks away instantly. "It doesn't look too good... but you know that already. Listen, I'll go get something for you, ok?" He gets up again and walks away and out of the room.

"What do we do when he comes back?" Though Kim whispers, the words almost seem to bounce across the room.

"We don't do anything." Lisa closes her eyes in thought and fatigue. "Kim, you're going to have to gain his trust. Make him think your arms hurt from being tied behind you and see if he'll loosen those ropes any. Can you move your legs more?"

Kim stretches to test both legs and ankles, "Given a little bit of time, I could get the ropes off. Lisa?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you scared?"

Lisa can't answer right away. Her thoughts go back to the day's events - the fights, the encounters, the situations she never thought she'd be in. And now Kim asks her... is she scared? She can't be, she is a trained federal agent. But for the first time... she is.

**CTU**

Baker. He would need all the support he can get now. "Tony, I'm coming over." Jack hangs up and pulls Catherine up from the chair, grabbing her cell phone from the desk. "You're coming along."

He half drags her to the main office. Everyone is staring at her, but she tries to tune it out. At her desk, Jack pushes her into the chair. "How do you contact Nick? Do it." To Michelle. "Find out which channel she was using and feed them bogus information. Get me Baker on the line."

"Got it." Michelle answers and starts working immediately.

George heads downstairs for an update only to find that things seem to be going faster than he anticipated.

Jack calls to him. "They've called back. She's supposed to send them details on our team on site. They don't believe you've called them off. What did the President say?"

"The President has given us his full support and permission to negotiate. But, Jack, Baker's teams are in and I have a feeling these guys are good."

George gives Catherine a disgusted look, "What's the deal with this place anyway? Does it just _encourage_ people to become traitors? Anyway, there's only so long I can stall before they're going to find out the teams are in place. And we've got explosions now?"

Tony nods while pulling up schematics to show the locations. "A series of them on the north end of the base, on the runway and where a fence line should be."

"Should be?"

"Well, we're assuming it's still there."

"Jack, get her," George points to Catherine, "to help us stop having to _assume_."

**Palmer**  
The President sits in an armchair, staring straight ahead for a few moments.

Then he calls Mike Novick. "Get me Stephen again. I need to speak to him now."

"Mr. President, it's 3 am..."

"I know what time it is, Mike. Just do it."

Mike nods silently and leaves the room.

**Miramar**  
Karen and the RA are slowly and cautiously heading towards the south of the port. She is now dressed smartly, and the blood cleaned off her face, wearing a blonde wig and eyeglasses. When they're at the gate, she pulls out an ID. "Annabelle Peterson. I'm here to update your security system around the submarines."

The soldier takes it from her. "Just a minute, Ma'am." He scans the ID. It comes back fine. She obviously has an appointment with someone. "Thank you Ma'am." He pushes a button and lets them both in. The RA addresses him before he walks through. "What's with the explosions?"

"I have no idea... Sir. We're working on it."  
"Alright." He walks through the gate and they head towards the submarine port.

Nick's team is now quickly closing in on the main building. Mick's men are sweeping the woods for the CTU team. Every move is dangerous as it can give away their positions to their pursuers. Going forward means looking back and staying covered.

**CTU main office**  
Jack is speaking to George but glaring at Catherine.  
"George, Catherine is going to help us, because she knows I don't care about protocol and if she doesn't do whatever she can to stop these people, I will hunt her down-"

"Jack. I've got Baker." Michelle is holding a headset for him to take.

Catherine hardly dares look back at him. Having Jack hold her at gunpoint once today was quite enough.

"Great, thanks." He leaves Catherine with George and grabs it immediately "Tom? Do you copy?"

"Jack. The signals have normalized. I can hear you. Give me the green light, Jack, we can't wait much longer."

"I know..."

Jack reflects on this, albeit briefly. If he says go, Kim might die. If he tells them to wait a little longer, both teams might get discovered and taken out, destroying the only chance they'll ever going to get to capture Petrov and prevent him from stealing mass destruction weapons and sensitive technology.

"Jack?" Tom needs an answer.

He's a father, a man who lost his wife doing his job, but he's also a sworn government agent. He cannot put the whole country in danger like this. _What is it you always say, Jack?_ _The mission comes first._ Jack decides quickly, though his heart is heavy. "Go ahead. Don't let them steal the SSBNs and be careful, we do have evidence of radioactivity around the port."

"Understood. Over."

Jack turns away. "Everyone, work with Baker, give him all the support he needs. Tony, get me a chopper. I'm going to try and find Kim and Lisa before they get hurt. They won't live long after the word of our teams moving in gets out. Andre, how far are you on their location?"

"I've got the signal down to a 30 mile radius in Oceanside off the 5. I'll keep working and get the exact location. It won't take me much longer."

Tony holds the phone he's been on away from his ear, "Jack, chopper's ready when you are."

"Jack, I've got it from here." George gives him a pat on the back, "Michelle's in contact with Baker, Tony is great at multi-tasking, and I don't think Catherine's going anywhere. Jennie's running our back ups. We've got it. You just let us know what you need and when you need it."

"Thank you George." It's time to get Kim back. "Andre, stay in contact with me. Tony, I'll be at the chopper in five minutes."

"Jack..." Michelle touches his arm. "Good luck."

Jack nods. "Thank you.", then turns away and goes to get more weapons and ammo before he leaves the office.

**The building**  
The man comes back in, holding a syringe and a bag of ice. "This will help the swelling go down." He notices the fear in Kim's eyes.

"What are you going to do with that!", she exclaims.

"Don't worry, my boss needs you, I wouldn't do anything to hurt you or he'll kill me."

Lisa doesn't like the sound of Kim's voice. It's killing her that she can't see what's happening. "Kim?" Sure, the man said he wouldn't hurt them...

"Look, just tell me what the needle is for!"

Needle! Her hands may be tied behind her back but that won't prevent her from doing what she can to move. Lisa struggles to turn to the side as much as possible, closing her eyes while trying to block out the pain that comes from her tied wrists. "He has to relieve the pressure. Right?" She looks directly at the man as a trickling sensation falls down the palms of her hands. Lisa shifts her hands and pain is followed by further trickling. The skin on her wrists is starting to break as she moves. 

Kim relaxes at Lisa's explanation then asks her question, "My arms are really sore from being back like this," she tries a smile, "Can you loosen them too? Think about it, you just said your boss needs us so it's not like we'd be able to go anywhere anyway."

"You want me to ease the pain? That I can do. But I cannot untie you, I'm sorry." He sticks the needle in her ankle and empties the contents of the syringe. "You'll feel better soon."

Feel better? Kim fights back tears as the man is just inches away from her. "I want my dad," she suddenly says softly as a sob escapes before she knows it.

What has happened? Lisa can't protect her like she promised. She failed. Failed to save Kim from these men and now... Lisa hangs her head. The man is still here but she can't think of anything more to say or do. "Are you telling me that you can't simply loosen the ties on her hands because you're scared of your boss? He's going to kill you anyway!"

"I'm not afraid of my boss, I simply have my orders, Miss. I am sure he'll come over to see you soon, why don't you ask him." He gets up and leaves the room, not turning back once.

**Miramar**  
"We're going South, towards the port.", Baker instructs the team. "The explosions have happened on the North end of the premises, Almeida said the SSBNs are on the South end. It's more than likely the blasts were just meant as a decoy."

Baker contacts the other team that had backed off earlier. "Come back in. We're clear to go." Baker motions to his men to start moving.

**CTU**  
There is no way to explain the way CTU felt as Jack left. To say an office could 'feel' is odd, but it did. The entire building seemed overcome by the sudden need to remain silent yet move into action.

Andre moves forward with his task. 29 miles, 28, at the edge of the city, nowhere near a neighborhood - that's good news.

Tony picks up Jack on the outside surveillance cameras. George and Michelle huddle with him to watch Jack board the chopper and lift off, as ever a lonely wolf.

"Okay," George clears his throat forcing him and the others to focus on what is inside and not outside, "you two work on finding Baker's team a clear path to the port. I want as few casualties as possible."

As George steps over to Andre's workstation, Tony and Michelle combine forces. "You know... continuing the mission was a good call. You did the right thing by overstepping George."

Michelle sighs. "Maybe. We'll see how it all turns out."

Catherine calls to them. "I hate to interrupt, but... I'm online with Nick."

"Okay. Tony, we need to feed them something, keep them quiet. I'll lead Baker towards the south of the base. Try to give them the feeling our teams are moving away."

Michelle doesn't know how he's supposed to do it, but it's the only thing they can do, if Jack is to even stand a chance to get to Kim and Lisa before they are killed.

Tony begins to filter fake stand down orders through the system and directs Catherine to let the Petrovs know she's getting them. One thing is for sure, he wouldn't want to be Catherine if Kim doesn't live.

**CTU chopper**  
Jack lifts off and immediately gets on the radio with Andre.  
"I'm in the air. Andre, you're my eyes out there. I need to know everything you know _as soon_ as you know, alright?"

As he waits for Andre's reply, his mind is focused on the task lying ahead, his eyes firmly on the instrument panel.

"Jack, head due south over the 5th. I'm locking in right now. You've got a clearing 50 yards from the where the call came from." Andre locks into the beeping icon on his screen. "I'm sending you the coordinates. Looks like it's an abandoned cannery ten miles from the highway. It'll take you ten minutes tops to get there."

"Copy that, Andre. Thanks." Jack glances at his cp. "I'm receiving the coordinates now. Get back to me if you have anything new. Out."

Jack turns off the com for a minute. He needs to focus. There is no way to tell what is going to expect him once he gets there. If these people have found out about the teams moving in, Kim might be dead already. Lisa too. He has no idea how many people are in there, what state Kim and Lisa are in. And worst of all, he doesn't really have a plan.

**Palmer**  
There is a knock at the door. Palmer opens it. "Stephen..." But it's not the Secretary of Defense, it is Sherry.

"Hello, David."

"Sherry, what are you doing here?"

"I'm still your wife, David. I enjoy certain privileges."

The President says nothing as she pushes herself past him and into the room.

"David." She smiles as friendly as she can. "I know how you're feeling right now. But this - " and she holds the divorce papers up - "is simply not the right thing to do."

David sighs. He knew that she wouldn't just grin and bear it. "Sherry, please. You schemed behind my back, you withheld information from the police, you covered up-"

"David." she interrupts. "Believe me. _You need me_. Your Presidency needs me."

"No. No, Sherry. I cannot trust you. I will not allow you to manipulate me into making the wrong choices. My decision is final."

Sherry steps up to him. Though he is much taller than her, it feels like she's staring him down. "_You_ don't want me for an enemy, David. Think about it."

"You don't scare me, Sherry." He holds her stare. "Sign the papers. You'll never be the First Lady. You were never meant to be. Get out."  
"David -"

"Get out. Now." He walks over to the door and holds it open. "Aaron! Escort Sherry out."

"Mrs. Palmer," Aaron holds open the door but Sherry isn't coming without a fight. He steps up to her and takes her arm. "Mrs. Palmer, the President has asked you to leave and I have to make certain that order is followed. Come with me... Sir," he nods to Palmer as he gently but firmly escorts her from the room.

**The building**  
"They're going to kill us." Kim leans her head against the pole and closes her eyes. She wants to sleep, her body is telling her she needs it but she is fighting against it. "I'm so tired, Lisa. I can't do this anymore. No one is coming for us anyway."

"Yes they are, Kim, yes they are. You've got to stay with me!" Lisa gets as far down to the ground as she can in hopes of turning on the large pole to finally grab Kim's hand. She pushes along the floor and then...she reaches her, the burning pain not matching the feeling of success. "You can do it, Kim. We have to fight these people."

"They killed my mom," tears fall from her eyes and she doesn't notice, "I don't want my dad to die. I don't want to die but we can't get out. It's over." Her last words sound muffled, she can feel her body giving in.

Why was she so sleepy? The syringe. The man gave her something instead of relieving pressure. Lisa muffled an anxious scream. What could it have been? "Kim," Lisa squeezes her hand tightly, "talk to me. Tell me more about your mom. Talk to me!"

**Palmer's hotel**  
Sherry walks out and David closes the door behind her. But instead of walking away, she faces Aaron.

"Aaron, we've known each other for so long, you cannot do this, come on. I need to talk to David. Let me back in." She smiles at him. "For old times' sake."

Aaron stays locked in place between Sherry and the door to the President's room. "Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to leave right now or you'll be in violation of federal law protecting the President of the United States from hostiles."

"Hostile, Aaron? Is that how you see me now? I'm the President's wife, for God's sake!"

The door opens and David walks out. "Sherry. Stop causing trouble. Go."

"David, I just want to talk to you..."

"We're done talking, Sherry. Just leave."

Sherry glares at him for several seconds. He doesn't move a muscle. Neither does she.

"Fine." Sherry finally gives in. "Alright, David."

She turns away from the door and walks toward the elevator, Aaron following close behind her. Both say nothing until they're down in the lobby.

"Tell David that this isn't over yet.", Sherry threatens as she enters the car waiting outside the hotel. Aaron watches her leave, shaking his head in disbelief.

**CTU chopper**  
Jack is following the coordinates he's been given. 50 yards. And a clearing? That's too close. They'd notice him. He'd be dead before he even lands the helicopter. Jack begins to look around for another landing site as he slowly nears the target area.

"Andre. I need a secondary landing site. The clearing doesn't work, it's too close. Can you give me any information about the cannery? Any indication of how many people there are on the site?"

**Miramar**  
Shots ring out from everywhere. Nick's men are rapidly progressing towards the south of the base. Baker's team are following their trails, trying to stay as covered as they can. The second CTU team is caught in the firefight with the soldiers. Their team leader radios heavy losses.

**CTU**  
George decides to stick to Catherine's side like glue, it's not like she's going anywhere. Besides, it could be interesting to hear her conversations with Petrov.

"So," he whispers, "what did they promise you? Fame? Power? Money? You do know they're just going to kill you when they have the chance, right? They don't care about you anymore than your father cared about the people he ruined."

That does it! No-one talks about her daddy like that. Catherine forcefully pushes back in her chair, so she hits George with it before she gets up and faces him.

"Back off, George! I'm doing what I can to help now, aren't I? My father was a respectable man. Jack put him in jail and yes, I _hate_ him for it! Then he comes back in here, places the gun to my head and forces me to help him get his daughter back alive? What a great way to convince people to switch sides."

She waits for a reaction. Nothing.

"But you know what, George? Jack isn't here any more and I don't think you have the guts to do the same kind of thing, so I don't see any reason why I should keep helping. I'm going to jail, fine. But his family is going to hell. And so is Jack. That doesn't sound like such a bad deal to me."

Catherine stands facing George, her arms crossed.

The feeling of hatred has taken over instead of fear.

**03:59:57 --- 03:59:58 --- 03:59:59 --- 04:00:00**


	21. Chapter 21

**The following takes place between 4 am and 5 am**

**04:00:01 --- 04:00:02 --- 04:00:03 --- 04:00:04**

**CTU **

Michelle: "Tony, the secondary team is under attack. Baker is reporting gunfire, too. I'm trying to contact the base and let them know we have people on the site. I'm afraid the military is fighting our own agents right now!"

"BAKER! Come in!" Tony reacts immediately to the shots fired. He is following the team's progression southward and now they are coming to their intended target. "Michelle, find the secondary team!" Her expression doesn't give him much hope. "Find them NOW!" She'll forgive him for yelling.

Andre quickly scans through available sat feeds other than what he has already. "Jack, they've picked locations well. The cannery's been closed since 1995 and the area has been a grey zone since then. The last sat image was taken three weeks ago and shows no one on site. I can work with the information Lisa sent me about her NSA contact to see if I can pull up anything else, but that'll take time."

"Andre, I don't have that kind of time and you know that. Send what you've got to my panel. Do it now." Jack begins to close in on the target. He can oversee the surroundings of the cannery better now.

"Andre, there is an area void of trees behind a small forest, I think I can land there. It's approximately 300 yards away from the cannery. Get me the satellite pictures and the layouts now. Touchdown in about two minutes. What's the status on our teams back at Miramar?"

Tony clicks in. "Jack, it's Tony, Baker's teams are under attack. Problem is we can't tell if it's the military or the Petrovs. Michelle's contacting the naval base to have them stand down while we conduct our part of the mission. We'll have a back up team on stand by for you, just let us know. I've got to get back to Baker." Tony relinquishes the channel back to Andre's control.

"Okay, Jack, I've got your new landing location. With the chopper there shouldn't be any problem in clearing the trees and the distance is good. I'm going to continue working on getting NSA just as a precaution."

Tony is back trying to establish contact with Baker. "Baker come in." Nothing. "Sonofabitch."

Tony returns to his system to interpret what he can from the data. Shots fired. No return comments from the team leader. "Baker... come in. Baker, do you read me? What's happening out there? How many do you see? Where are you?"

Miramar radio traffic is going wild now with soldiers wanting to get to their stations and defend the grounds on which they live. "Baker, come in." 

**CTU - George/Catherine**  
George is not the least bit impressed or intimidated by Catherine's display. If anything, it has given him a little more information - he hopes.

"Oh, missy, helping should be the first thing on your mind." George closes the gap between them, forcing her to back into the wall. "You tell me everything that is in that pretty little head of yours NOW!" He slams both hands against the wall to box her in, "I'll know if there is anything you've left out. I can see it in your eyes."

"What is this George? Trying to scare me? I don't think you have the time to waste like this. Besides, I already told Jack what I know."

Without a warning, Catherine grabs George's gun from the holster, quickly turns, moving behind him swiftly and pointing the gun at him. "Now who's scared?"

George doesn't like having his gun pointed at him and he doesn't like that Catherine took it off of him. He backs off, but only slightly. The wall is right behind him.

"Alright, Catherine, you've made your point, now I'll make mine." With one arm, George slams the gun out of her hand while he uses the other to grab her free hand and force her face first against the wall. "You're playing with the big guys and you don't know the rules. Gotta take the safety off if you're going to shoot that thing."

George cuffs her, "This is the last time I'm going to be polite before I bring in Darren. Why did the Petrovs kidnap Kim and why do they want the Miramar mission stopped? You're doing their dirty work. You know something."

**The cannery**  
Lisa has given up trying to keep Kim awake and allowed her to give in to a fitful rest. She feels the fatigue wanting to overtake her, too, but she is unwilling to let her eyes close now that Kim's eyes have. Someone has to keep watch, even while tied up.

John is sitting in a room upstairs from the hall Kim and Lisa are in. There's another man sitting in the darkened corner. They're watchiing the two women through a tinted window. John lifts his eyes towards the man. "Sir, if they took Bauer off the case, he may not have the resources to find them. Are you sure he is going to come?"

"Of course he is." the man answers. "No man would sacrifice his daughter without knowing he's done everything he can to protect her."

John is watching Kim's body go slack as she falls asleep. Lisa is fighting with fatigue, too.

The phone in the room upstairs rings. John picks up, not taking his eyes off the women.  
"Yes?"

"Sir, there's a chopper closing in on us about half a mile away. I'm not sure if it's landing, but I just wanted to give you a heads up."

"Okay. Keep me informed. If it's landing, it must be him."

John glances at the guy in the dark corner. "Bauer. You could be right. He might be heading our way."

John gets up and descends the stairs to the large hall. "Don't scream.", he orders Lisa as he walks over to her, holding a piece of fabric in his hands. He gags her with it, then does the same to Kim, who moves a little while he does it, but is too sleepy to do anything about it.

Then he puts on an evil grin. "Looks like Jack is coming to save you. You'll be together soon." John leaves them alone again.

_Jack. No. _The fear that had turned into fatigue returns now. Lisa struggles with the gag, trying to remove it anyway she can and, at the same time, struggling with the ropes around her raw wrists. These people used Kim and her as bait to get to Jack. But why?

And why was she not more careful?

**Miramar**  
Nick and his men are now at the port. They meet up with Karen and start moving towards the location of the submarine.

"Tony! This is Baker. We've got them. They're entering the port now, closing in on the SSBN. Awaiting orders."

Tony turns to Michelle, "Baker's closing in. I'm giving the orders to proceed." He puts on the headset and contacts Baker, "Engage. I repeat, engage. Baker, you might have military officials from the base joining you. We'll let you know as soon as possible."

"Copy that, Tony. We're going in." Baker motions to his men.

**chopper**  
"Andre, don't send backup until you hear from me, understood? We might stand a better chance if we don't bring in the big guns at once." Jack glances on his panel. "I got the frames. I'm going down now."

Before initiating the landing, Jack takes a quick look at the satellite photos and blueprints Andre has sent him. Three weeks old, it can't tell him anything about what it looks like inside now. But he can at least check the surroundings, see where he's going, plan a route to get out. Jack lands the chopper and immediately runs out. It is likely his flight has been discovered and he's going to have to move fast. He runs quickly into the grove and continues swiftly, but carefully, between the trees and towards the building ahead.

**CTU**  
"TELL ME!", George yells at her, tightening the grip on her arms.

Catherine is clearly scared now. She is holding back the tears as she speaks. "I don't know, George. I only know what I've been told, and I know what I was supposed to do, I do not know what background the operation has."

She can't take it any more. She's a trained agent, she's not supposed to be intimidated by a simple threat of pain, but the thought of Darren working on her is real enough for her to burst into tears. "George, you have to believe me... They didn't tell me anything..." She sobs as her tears run down the cold wall her face is still pressed against. "I'd help you if I could... I just can't."

Not relinquishing control of Catherine, pushing her even harder against the wall with one arm, George pulls his cell phone from his jacket and calls Tony. "Look, I know you're busy but I've got a situation. I need a holding cell opened immediately and then I need Jennie to be given clearance to access Catherine's background files, her father's files, and Jack's closed cases."

"Michelle, take over." Tony switches to Division authorization codes, "George, Holding Room 3."

"Meet me there now." George escorts Catherine to the room where nothing exists but time and a chair. After Tony opens the room, George cuffs her to the chair. "Comfortable? Get used to it. You're here until Jack gets back. Let's hope he does."

Tony watches the scene, it's clear Catherine's upset and George's patience is gone. "You're just leaving her?"

"No, I'm going to babysit her." He shakes his head in frustration. "Now, go back to what you were doing or let the new Nina suck you in. Are we done?"

Keeping his head low, so as to prevent himself from answering George's sarcasm with some of his own, Tony slips back to his desk while George meets Jennie at hers to access Catherine's history.

**CTU holding cell**  
Alone. Finally. Catherine closes her eyes. She hadn't planned to face Jack again, but there seems to be nothing she can do about it. It's not like she could just walk out of CTU now.

**CTU**  
"Tony, I've got the Navy on the line.", Michelle holds the handset to him.

"Great," Tony rolls his eyes as he takes the phone, "Tony Almeida."

**Cannery Grove**  
"He's landed," A man radios from a watch position opposite the clearing, "Move in?"

"I think it would be good," comes the reply.

A few careful signals to the snipers around the clearing and the twelve man team begins the decent.

"Jack Bauer! You are surrounded! Give yourself up!"

But they knew it would not be that easy. A volley of gunfire errupts from Bauer's position. Several of the men fire back, five hitting the ground almost instantly.

"You're good, Bauer! But not THAT good!"

The man who announced his arrival appears eye-to-eye with Bauer. His orders are to bring him in unharmed. But there is no harm in teasing him a little, right? "We were told you don't give up without a fight. It's good the information was accurate because now we know where your daughter gets her spunk from." The man spits in Bauer's face. "Lower your weapon." Knowing he stands no chance, Jack complies wordlessly.

"Tom! Bill! Cuff him and bring him in!"

As Tom and Bill approach him, and the remaining five still hold him at gunpoint, it is impossible to describe the feeling of defeat that is taking possession of Jack's mind. He realizes he stands no chance against seven heavily armed men. He lowers his guns and allows them to disarm and cuff him. He knows without a doubt what's next, as he's being dragged across the dirt and inside the cannery.

**on the phone to the navy**  
The man on the other side of the line is speaking fast. "Mr. Almeida? There's been an attack on our base and we're doing everything in our power to apprehend the intruders, so I really don't have the time to chat. Whatever it is the CTU needs to tell us, do it immediately and keep it brief."

Tony does what he can to bring Miramar's commander up to speed. "Sir, what I can tell you is that we've got fifity men who have converged on your base on our authority because of the terrorist event that is currently underway. We are attempting to take their leader into custody. We need your cooperation immediately." He quickly gives a rundown of the information they have received and are still receiving. "We have to keep communication channels open. I need to know if we're going to have your full support or if our men will continue on without it. It makes no sense for our units to fight eachother. Either way, this mission will continue."

"You'll have our full support, Mr. Almeida. I need to know the exact location of all your teams so we can coordinate. Send them to us now." He glances on the screen that shows some of the trucks driving towards the center of the premises. "Looks like our back up is here. Finally. Send us the locations. All communication goes through this channel only."

"I'm sending the coordinates now. You should know that our teams are moving at a rapid pace and I'm sure you're aware this is a situation that can change at any minute. They'll change as the situation warrants but for now, this is where they are stationed." Tony sends the information to the commander. "I'll contact you if there is anything further. Feel free to do the same. Thank you, sir."

**Cannery  
**Despite the forlorness of the situation, Jack keeps his eyes open as he is led through the building His eyes are everywhere. Fire alarm. Electric switch. Phone lines. Doors. Elevator.

No Kim. No Lisa.

"Where is my daughter? Please. Tell me she's okay.", he pleads. Fear is taking over. Not for his life. For theirs.

"And why should you be afforded such luxury?" A booming voice resounds after Jack finishes speaking. Jack's captors make him stop in the middle of a corridor which leads into a large dark hall. The man who had stayed in the dark for so long descends the stairs slowly. He remains standing for a few seconds, glaring at Jack, then approaches him and kicks him hard in the stomach. As Jack coughs and tries to catch his breath, the man whispers in his ear, "You are not a leader any longer."

He stands and orders, "TURN ON THE LIGHTS!"

Lisa tries to scream to let Jack know she's there but the gag prevents her from doing more than screeching.

"Look!" The man who kicked Jack grabs him by the hair and pulls his head up, "Your stupidity has done this!" Kim and Lisa are easily seen as Jack is pulled to a chair and tied down.

Jack's eyes fall on Lisa first because she is trying to move, in an attempt to catch his attention. Apart from being gagged and tied up, she looks unharmed.

But then he notices Kim. Her body is slack, her upper body hanging over the ropes.

The only thought in his head now is that he lost her. The only family he had left. She's dead.

"NOOOOOOO!" Jack's scream fills the vast hall as he stares at Lisa and Kim in the middle of the room. "I'LL KILL YOU! I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL YOU!" Jack shouts at the man, and tries to free himself from the chair, but receives a blow in the face that causes him to spit blood. Yet the pain it inflicts is nothing against the pain in his heart.  
Jack is breathing heavily. "How could you do this! Who are you?"

"Why is she moving!" The man speaks to Tom, who immediately rushes to Lisa and points a gun at her head. She freezes instantly, though the tears running down her cheeks are still flowing freely.

"Who am I?" The man walks around Jack, his own pistol in hand, "How can I explain this? Hmm... does the Hotel Los Angeles attack mean anything to you?"

He waits a moment then faces Jack. "It does to me. It was the moment my life had a new purpose." He pauses to let the words take effect, then continues. "You were the team leader. You knew civilians were inside the hotel but when time came to move in, you didn't say a word. You just followed orders. George Mason's orders."

Lisa closes her eyes. That operation had been a defining moment in George's career. It was the moment in Phoenix when he knew he was to be in Los Angeles.

"George Mason had the choice - stand down or move in. Civilian casualties would be minimal, but there would be casualties."

The man now glares at Jack. "_My daughter_ was one of those minimal casualties. I stood in the crowd. I saw you make that split second decision to go inside." The man hits Jack twice with a rifle that has been handed to him. "So, Jack, who am I?... _I'm your worst nightmare_."

"Mr. Taylor, what about the helicopter?", one of his henchman asks.

Taylor doesn't move from his position. "Burn it."

Jack keeps his head low. Hotel Los Angeles attack. He was Section Captain back then. They had known lives were at stake but they had to make a choice.

"We tried everything we could to protect the civilians. I am sorry about your daughter, but hundreds of people were inside and a decision had to be made. We couldn't allow..."

Jack lifts up his head and looks at Taylor. "I understand you're holding me responsible. You want me, fine, you got me. Let the woman go. Please, she has nothing to do with this."

"It's so simple, right? Your life for hers?" Taylor strolls to Lisa and lifts her chin up with the rifle. "He wants to trade his life for yours. Sweet isn't it?", he grins for a second, then his face turns into a cold mask. "Well, what wouldn't I have given to volunteer my life for my daughter's... _No one_ gets a second chance. Not even Jack Bauer," he snarls then strolls to Kim's lifeless body. "It's a shame. She seemed so sweet, so innocent. Just like my Gracie."

Taylor snaps his fingers, "Take her out of here, Bill. We don't need her stinking up the place."

Jack feels like he's suffocating as he watches Kim's body being carried away by Bill. He holds his breath until he ends up fighting for air against his will. He wants to scream, run over to her, at least say goodbye. But he can't do any of that. As Bill disappears from view, Jack closes his eyes in anguish and sorrow. I'm sorry, sweetheart... I'm so sorry... 

He failed. Miserably. His only child has been killed. And why? Because he was doing his job. As Bill picks up Kim, Lisa screams and struggles against the ropes. This can't be happening. It can't be. Kim isn't dead, but Jack doesn't know that. As strong-willed as she's known Jack to be, this seems to be his breaking point, she can see it in his eyes. He's giving up!

"SHUT UP!" Taylor smacks Lisa across the face so that her lip breaks and starts bleeding softly. "You aren't helping your situation and he's not going to help you! No one is!"

Time's up. He's had enough of these games. Jack's here, the daughter's here, the woman's here - it's time to get it over with. "JOHN!" He looks up to the corner room as he calls, "Take the woman and kill her!"

"NO!... Please don't..." Jack is literally begging for her life now, though he's almost whispering the last words. His eyes meet Lisa's, the fear is clearly visible for both of them. Focus on at least getting her out of here alive, Jack tells himself. Maybe he can get this guy to talk. Jack tries to compose himself as much as he can. "Taylor..." he calls across the room. "Wait. Tell us about your daughter. At least let us know who she was, who you're doing this for." 

It's risky. Jack knows it. This guy could explode any minute now. But if he delays him for even a few minutes, it will be their gain. It would win time for CTU to arrive if they figure out things are wrong. As he speaks, he glances carefully around the room and notes the position of the men. Five of them, all armed, plus Taylor. And more outside.

Not looking good. But maybe not impossible.

**Miramar gate**  
"Hey, the back up is here!", a soldier at the watch shouts to another. "Open up"!

The gate to the complex opens and lets the miliitary trucks pass. They look real, but we recognize some of the men as belonging to those that have left Nick's compound several hours earlier.

The trucks disperse to all angles of the complex, the "soldiers" jump out, but instead of joining the Navy soldiers, they begin shooting them down.

**Miramar AFB**

Baker's first team are trying to surround Nick's men before they can get to the submarine dock. Some of the CTU agents manage to circle around and get ahead of them, blocking their way. "STOP!" someone shouts, but Nick throws a granade and clears the path, killing the agents. He and his men take a mad dash towards the SSBNs. Gunfire ensues, in which both sides suffer losses.

"Fall back and go west!" The secondary captain, Marks, gives the order and the capable teams fall into formation. Bullets are raining down but they are returning just as much fire as they are receiving. "MOVE!" Is the word of the day and that they do. As fast as they can, the teams go west continuing down the edge of the port.

**Cannery**

"You want to know about my daughter?" Taylor glares at Jack but motions for John to hold off on the orders to kill. "She might as well hear this, too."

Lisa is visibly shaking as John lets her drop back to the ground and begins to back away. She knows what Jack is doing - try to get this madman's mind off of the current events and focused on what brought him to this point. Buy us time. But Lisa can't help. She can't do anything but draw her knees to her chest and attempt to slow her breathing. All eyes seem to be focused on Taylor but she is watching Jack.

"Gracie was five. I let her go into the hotel to get a second room key because I had left it when we went out that morning. We had been to breakfast and then were going to spend the whole day at Disneyland."

Taylor has been pacing the room as he told his story but he stops now to look at Lisa, "Her mom left after she was born. She couldn't handle things like parenting. Some of us just don't know how to take care of our kids."

He tosses a glance at Jack. "You aren't the only one to blame, though."

Taylor pulls out his cell and starts to dial a number. "Uncuff him but don't take your eyes off of him." Taylor waits for the phone to be answered, "It's time to make a call to the big man."

**CTU / Cannery**

"Michelle, let Tony know the Navy will get a full briefing on the mission tomorrow morning." George reaches quickly for his ringing cell, "Yeah, George Mason."

"Hello, Mr. Mason." Taylor's voice comes through loud and clear, "I have someone here who will explain to you why he is now in my custody and who else I have." He hands the phone to Jack, "If you say anything I dislike, I will personally do away with this woman you're so fond of."

**04:59:57 --- 04:59:58 --- 04:59:59 --- 05:00:00**


	22. Chapter 22

**The following takes place between 5 am and 6 am**

**05:00:01 --- 05:00:02 --- 05:00:03 --- 05:00:04**

**Cannery**

The man who uncuffed Jack stands behind him, the tip of the gunbarrel resting at the back of Jack's head. Jack takes the phone from Taylor and wipes the blood of his face with a sleeve before speaking. "George, it's Jack." He can hear unrest on the other end as he says this. Then a click. Andre probably put the cell phone on speaker.

His eyes are scanning the room. John walks out of the hall, Bill is coming back.

At least he's uncuffed now. But Bill is too close to Lisa. Jack carefully watches Taylor as he speaks.

"This man lost his five year old daughter in the Hotel Los Angeles attack. He's holding the both of us reponsible."

"You ARE responsible!" Tom hits Jack's neck with a tazer. The volts run through his body, making him jerk and yell in pain. A wave of nausea threatens to overcome him, but Jack manages to swallow it down while he fights for air, but doesn't let go of the phone. It seems like minutes before he speaks again. "George...", he mumbles through the cough, as he slowly streches his body up in the chair. _It's just your body, Jack, keep your mind strong_, he tells himself. "Kim is dead... They are willing to kill Lisa, too."

Show you acknowledge the fact that they are in charge. Don't make them have to prove it.   
Jack now stares at Taylor again. What next?

He recollects his strength to put a question to Taylor. "What is it you want? Simply killing everyone who was somehow involved in Gracie's death won't bring her back. And why the Petrov's and the SSBNs?"

**CTU**  
Michelle catches on, Jack is talking to Taylor, but also to CTU: _this guy is behind this whole thing. Find out who he is._ She begins pulling up what they've got on the hotel Los Angeles attack. She brings up the list of casualties and starts checking for a five-year old girl named Gracie. It should at least give them an idea of who this man is.

The reaction to the news of Kim's death is easy to see on the faces of those working on the case. But they have to continue before giving in.

"I told you my life was given a new purpose the day Gracie died," Taylor grinds his heel into the dirt, "When given a purpose one only needs to find willing participates to assist in the cause. Nikolay Petrov was very willing. It's funny," he chuckles, "terrorists are always willing."

George jots down the information coming across and hands it to Michelle. This guy contacted Petrov and Lisa had a file earlier containing NSA information on Petrov's activities.

"Check Lisa's desk," he whispers. She wouldn't have looked for a cross-check with a guy named Taylor who had a five-year-old daughter.

"Jack, ask how they met."

"Yeah, Jack, ask how they met." Tom nudges him forcefully with the gun barrell. "Hey, boss! Big man wants to know about some meeting."

"Oh?" Taylor laughs it off. Petrov's teams are in place, he'll get control of the SSBNs, what does it matter? "Your friend here," he motions to Lisa, "she throws up red flags when talking to sources. Her NSA source didn't get back with her because she's dead - buried in the back right here." Taylor shrugs, "That's what happens when people get nosy. We knew we'd have to take care of Ms. Elliott too. But you want to know about Petrov. I chose him because he is a good military man like myself. I served this country well but it couldn't save my daughter when I needed that the most."

"Let me talk to whoever's in charge! Hey, are you listening to me!" George's shouting is stopped by Taylor himself, who grabs the phone from Jack.

"I'm listening, Mr. Mason."

"I get why you want to kill Jack Bauer but I don't get why you want to get a nuclear submarine. Explain that one to me."

Taylor steps away from the main room so that he can speak to George in private. His reasons are ones he has shared with no one and he won't let Bill, Tom, or John hear them now. "Have your people call up Special Ops Classified file CA29340."

**Miramar**  
Baker's team is surrounded. The Petrovs have been good, they've used survivalist instincts well and have pulled their troops together. 

Miramar's commander has a lock on the coordinates he received from CTU. Men have been shifted through underground tunnels and above ground action has been discreetly followed. "Men, you're defending your home not just your job. Get out there and rid this place of the enemy!"  
"Yes, Sir!"  
A metal bullet-proof sheet is pulled away from the tunnel ceiling and a door is pushed up. As the first Miramar soldiers ascend, it's clear Petrov's men are taken off guard but not ready to give up. "GO!" The order is given and the soldiers rush forward. Baker's team smiles brightly then joins the forces of good.

**cannery**  
As Taylor leaves the room, Jack has his eyes fixed on Lisa. What had they done to her? Can she get through this? With the big boss gone, it could be a good time to move. But Jack dismisses that thought immediately. Gun at his head, gun at hers, they'd both be dead before he even got off the chair.

**CTU**  
Michelle whispers: "Tony... Look at this." She shows him what she's found so far. "There really was a five-year old girl named Gracie who was killed during the operation Jack was leading. Last name: Taylor. Her father claimed her body." She brings up a photograph of him. "Matt Taylor."

She then accesses the archives. She gets a list of the files and CA29340 but she can't bring it up without proper clearance. "Tony, I need an authorization code to access the classified file."

He quickly punches in a few numbers and the file appears on the screen.

"Alright... It's a report... Something about a mission in Novosibirsk. A lot has been canceled." Numerous thick black bars are on every page of the scanned file. She scrolls down until she seems to get a hit. "Here's something. Taylor has been dishonorably discharged after that mission. It says he's been suspected of having stolen uranium. But it has never been conclusively proven so he's never been convicted."

George snaps his fingers and Tony moves aside. "Okay, Mr. Taylor," he reads the name, "I have the file. What am I looking for? This means nothing to me."

"You see the note regarding a dishonorable discharge. I want that reversed, expunged from my record. You'll have to call the President for approval but you can make it happen. I know you can. That is if you want any chance of regaining two agents."

Michelle and Tony exchange puzzled glances. Does this guy want to go back to the military? Or is it just about the honor?

"How do I know you didn't make the uranium disappear?", George questions.

"It was a miscalculation on the part of my commanding officer." Taylor inwardly seethes with anger at the memory. "I called him on it and he paid me back by claiming I committed what amounted to international terrorism. If you're accused, might as well join ranks, right? By the way, how are things going at Miramar? I assume you have the place under surveillance."

George motions for Tony to pull up the Miramar information. Radio traffic seems to be minimal and garbled. The teams could be getting closer to the port now. George doesn't fall for the bait. "I wouldn't know, Taylor. You wanted the mission stopped... You've been asking the questions, let me ask one. Why not let a hostage go? The woman had nothing to do with the attack that killed Gracie. Let her go."

"You'd like that wouldn't you? No, I don't think so."

**Miramar**  
Outnumbered and surrounded, Nick decides their best bet is to try and get out. For now. Taylor will have to do something about this. Nick gives Karen the orders to retreat but instantly dashes into the woods, closely followed by Mick, leaving their men to take care of themselves.

Karen watches them back off and starts behind them, but reconsiders. She's not walking out on this one. Instead, she heads off straight through the middle and towards the SSBN, killing everyone who gets in her way. She's already away from the shooting and can see the door to the underground tunnel leading to the submarine.

She almost makes it, too, except Baker turns up behind her with a couple of agents. "FREEZE! KAREN, STOP RIGHT THERE! DOWN ON YOUR KNEES! NOW!"

**Cannery**

Lisa closes her eyes briefly even though she can't let herself give up to anything. She has a sudden urge to provoke Bill. "Kim's alive," she tries to say but it comes out garbled and useless. Bill simply shoves her with the gun and tells her to shut up to which she replies with a cold stare but her eyes return to Jack. Lisa shakes her head "no" even though he won't understand.

"Hey, Bauer," With the boss away, Tom takes the opportunity to relax, "you were pretty stupid to come out here by yourself. I mean, it was easy for the other guys to get the girls but you? I thought you were supposed to be smart."

Jack watches Lisa carefully and tries to ignore Tom's words. What is she trying to say? No... No...what?

With his hands uncuffed and the attention shifting to the phone call, Jack's been loosening the ropes that held him tied to the chair and is now simply holding them together so they look tight.

Jack looks carefully around the room. Taylor is still gone, just Bill and Tom are in the hall.  
He hears Tom shout his name again, wanting an answer.

"Hey, what's your name? Tom? Well, listen, Tom, let me tell you something... With people like you-" Jack suddenly grabs a knife from the blade holder in Tom's boot and tosses it at Bill, hitting him straight in the chest and sending him to the floor, then with one flowing movement slams the gun out of Tom's hand, grabs his arm, pulls him up and throws him over, then dives for the gun and fires two shots before Tom can even realize what's going on.

Jack then runs over to Lisa, pulls the knife out of Bill's heart and starts cutting the ropes to free her.

The shots echo through the building and bring three men rushing in from their lookout positions. Their colleagues are down. No one gets away with that!

Jack sees them coming, but keeps cutting the ropes. Maybe they'll make it. But the ropes are thick. "Jack!" The gag still on her mouth, Lisa's scream is muffled but her eyes show what's happening. Enough rope has been broken that she can slip her hands out and pull the gag off, "Watch out!"

But it's not soon enough. Two men tackle Jack to the ground. "You'll pay for what you've done!" The larger of the two hits him repeatedly.

"NO!" _Tell him! _If anything, he needs to know Kim is alive. Lisa struggles to get the remaining rope off her legs, "Kim is-" The third man grabs her and puts his hand tightly over her mouth and a knife at her throat. "Say another word and I kill you now!" As she is dragged into another room at the far end of the hall, she can hear the beating Jack is getting.

The two men continue to hit him and kick him. Taylor walks in on the scene, "Excuse me, Mr. Mason."

He glares at his henchmen, "I heard gunshots and now I find Bill and Tom bleeding, the woman gone, and Bauer apparently down for the count. An explanation?"

"Bauer got loose, Mr. Taylor! Honest!" The two men back off.

Taylor bends over Jack's motionless body. "Ah well, it's probably for the best. Take him into an empty room. I don't want him bleeding everywhere. He'll be out for a while but make sure the door is locked."

He shakes his head as Jack is carried away, "Mr. Mason, I hope you don't have the same impulsive actions in employees like I do. Okay, anyway, where were we?... Ah, yes. Free the woman-"

"Whoa whoa, if Bauer's dead, this conversation is over." George can't be certain of what he heard or what it means.

"He's certainly not in good condition but I think he'll live until I get what I want. _What I want_ is that dishonorable discharge erased from my record."

"And you want reinstatement to a military branch?", George asks incredulously.

"This conversation is over. Just make it happen. I hope you're keeping an eye on Miramar."

Taylor hangs up and decides now would be a nice time to take a break.

**CTU**  
"Update, people!" George shouts at Michelle and Tony and anyone within hearing range. "This man is not crazy. He had a plan and his part is working out. Michelle, where do the Petrovs come in?"

Michelle brings up the files she's cross-referenced.  
"This man Taylor was on a mission to Novosibirsk in 1994. The objective of the mission is erased, I can't make it out. But it does say that the mission was successful. When they got back to the States, the uranium had disappeared. It is around that time that the Petrovs were trying to expand their ring to Eastern Europe and a few months later, they had the Bulgarian President assassinated and disappeared. The intel says they presumably hid in Asia and some time later, transferred their assets and their business to South America. They haven't surfaced in North America until today.  
After his discharge, Taylor took court action against that decision, but lost. We lost track of him after the Hotel Los Angeles attack in 1998. So far, I haven't come across any records of Taylor having dealings with the Petrovs but _if_ they met before '98, they would have met in Novosibirsk."

**Palmer**  
"Mike! Get me an update from CTU."

"Certainly, Mr. President."

"And where is Stephen? I thought I told you to get him over here."

"I can't get a hold of him, Sir. I'm still trying."

Palmer is puzzled, but lets go. "Alright, just get me CTU."

"Yes, sir." Novick goes out to make the call.

**CTU**

Michelle waits for a reaction, but her focus shifts for one moment to the situation in the cannery. She needs to ask the question. "George, we have a back up team on stand-by. Shouldn't we send them out to get to Jack and Lisa?"

"I know what we should do and what we shouldn't do!" George snaps back at Michelle, then regrets it. What did she do but suggest what everyone was thinking? One problem, Taylor was a terrorist who wasn't negotiating, so there was no telling what the team would be sent into.

And George was too close to this. Tony steps up after being quiet for too long. "Let's send the teams in on stand by." He watches George carefully, "Andre can direct them, we have the location where Jack landed and we have layouts of the facility. It won't take long to pull the operation together. I can handle it."

George takes a deep breath. "Fine. Okay... just... do it. Start working on it now."

"Sir," Jennie calls out from her workstation, "you have a phone call, line 2."

"Tell them I'm busy."

"Uh, it's the President."

"Maybe he wants a back up team." George answers the phone.

"Mr. President, we've had a development. I apologize for not calling sooner. Jack Bauer has been taken hostage while attempting to rescue his daughter and another agent."

He purposely leaves out the information about Kim. "We also know the man behind the attack on Bauer is a Matt Taylor who is a former Special Ops member." George proceeds to provide the rest of the information to Palmer as best he can. "...and Tony Almeida is working with the Miramar Naval Commander to coordinate with our teams. That's what we know so far."

The President takes in this new information. _Bauer captured? Someone on a personal vendetta again_?... "So this man Taylor, he was behind everything that happened today?" He waits until George confirms that, then pauses to process the facts.

"Mr. Mason... No-one stages such a big operation just for the fun of it. What does Taylor want? What are you not telling me?"

**Cannery**  
John, coming into the hall again, walks up to Taylor and grabs his arm. "This is not how things were planned to go down. You're slipping. If Bauer dies _now_, we're not getting anything."

Taylor jerks his arm away from John, "Bauer is to suffer just like I suffered and if he suffers more, what does it matter?" But John's not taking to this lightly. "The Petrovs have their own agenda, you've always known that. This operation was coordinated once we knew where all the players were. It's a shame Mira had to die today, but," he shrugs, "that's our business. Things happen all the time. If you don't like it, don't get attached."

He walks to Tom and Bill, checking each for any signs of life. "We'll have to get this mess cleaned up. Once Petrov calls, we'll know our timeline for the hostages."

"You better hope he calls." John stares at Taylor. "Things are going quickly down the drain here, I would't be surprised if Mason crossed us and the operation is still running. We haven't heard from Karen since this afternoon, what do you think happened to her? And Nick should have called by now."

John turns around and starts walking out of the main hall. "You should have killed Mason and Bauer when you had the chance. The more complex the plan, the more people you get involved, and the more can go wrong."

Taylor's patience with John is wearing thin, but John has been his friend the longest so he'll give him a greater opportunity to live today. But he still has the briefcase and the disc and CTU wants to retrieve that disc. Why else would the agent have willingly gone to an empty parking garage just to be shot at?

**cannery**

In the room that he's been dumped in while unconscious, Jack slowly becomes aware of his surroundings and finally opens his eyes. His face on the cold concrete floor, some warm and sticky liquid pooling underneath his cheek, a dark space around him, likely a small and empty room. He shifts to the side a little, only to find every inch of his body aching. Rubbing his face, he realizes his fingers are wet with blood. What had happened?

His mind is blank for a few moments, then, slowly, he begins to recall the events of the past hour or so. Taylor had killed Kim. He tried to get Lisa out of there, but failed. 

Lisa... What have they done to her? Is she even alive? If she was, it probably wouldn't stay that way for long.

He needs to do something about it. Groaning in pain, Jack turns over and starts pulling himself up to his knees very cautiously, then slowly and insecurely gets up on his feet. He staggers a bit and has to support himself on the wall.

**Miramar**  
Baker gets through to CTU after apprehending Karen. "This is Baker. Tony, come in!"

Michelle grabs a headset. "Baker, it's Michelle. Tony's busy. What's your status?"

"We've got Karen Codis in custody. The SSBNs are secured, but the Petrov brothers are nowhere to be found. Seems like they got away."

"Got away! Find them, Baker! They can't be allowed to leave the premises! Find them NOW!" Michelle is shouting now. This can't be good. If they get away, they'll contact Taylor and Jack and Lisa will be killed, too. 

"We're trying to locate them, Michelle. But they have an army of mercenaries on the premises, it's hard to even tell who is a real soldier and who's with the Petrovs. They're taking control over the base. The Navy has its hands full defending their territory, we're on our own on this one."

Michelle sighs. George was right about these guys having a good plan. "Just find them, Baker! Jack's life is on the line. I'll do what I can from here to try and determine their location. I'll get back to you, alright?"

"Copy that, Michelle. Hurry."

"Yeah." She hangs up.

**George / Palmer**

"Ah..." George has stalled long enough with the President and with this new information he can't stall any longer, "Mr. President, Taylor is demanding the dishonorable discharge be removed from his military record. He claims to have been wrongfully accused of stealing uranium..." He receives a message from Michelle on his screen. "Sir, we've just received word that Karen Codis has been captured. Our teams are still working on the Petrovs but we'll get there. As for Taylor, he's expecting a call and soon... Mr. President? Are we to continue negotiations?"

Palmer is a little confused about what he's hearing. "Hold on, Mr. Mason, are you telling me that all that Taylor wants is to clear his name? And he's trying to accomplish that by kidnapping and killing our agents and by attacking our military? That doesn't make any sense."

**CTU**

Tony has been going over Taylor's file and the cross-checks Michelle has come up with that match or don't match the Petrovs. "Michelle, you said Taylor and Petrov's most likely time to have met would have come before 1998 but that doesn't coincide with the hotel attack and that seems to be Taylor's focus. But why does he want the discharge removed? That's what has been bugging me."

He reads the information again, attempting to process it from a different angle. "Let's say they didn't meet before '98 but Taylor's Special Ops experience provided him with the information he needed to get in touch with them at the right time. When George talks to Taylor, he's only anxious about one thing - revenge for his daughter's death. He doesn't want anything else."

Tony stops suddenly then excitedly begins to speak, "We're dealing with two different attacks. Taylor wants his dishonorable discharge removed because he knows the media will get a hold of this story and, when they do, they'll see he was in the military. If the discharge is on his record, they'll dismiss him as just another bad soldier who lost it but if he has a good record, they'll feel compelled to dig deeper and will come across the information about his daughter. Taylor wants to drag us all through the mud. The mistakes we made at the hotel will be everywhere and Congressional hearings could follow!"

He quickly gets Andre's attention, "Get the stand by team to be on alert and ready to go. Michelle," adrenaline is pumping, "Petrov's role was to get Jack back to CTU for Taylor and Catherine's use. His reward was being allowed to stage an attack on US soil."

**Cannery – another holding room**  
Slowly, Kim begins to stir from her drug-enduced slumber. An instictive breath is stopped by the force of the gag around her mouth. She coughs quickly to prevent herself from suffocating. Where is she now? There's no pole, no light... Kim rolls to her side to find herself alone on the cement floor in a room full of wooden crates.

**Palmer's hotel room**  
"George", Michelle approaches George and whispers. "Tony's got something. It's important."

Palmer on the other side of the line notices the interruption. "Mr. Mason, put your employee on the phone, I want to hear this first hand." George complies. How could he not? It's the President.

"Mr. President. This is Michelle Dessler. We believe that there are two sides to this attack. First and foremost, Taylor wants revenge for the death of his daughter. That is the reason he got to Jack Bauer and we believe he will not hesitate to kill him. The other part is less personal."

She explains what Tony has come up with, then asks the question they'd all been wanting to ask for a while now. "Sir, we have a field ops team on stand by. How do you want us to proceed?"

**cannery**  
After his eyes have adapted to the faint light in the room, Jack makes out a sink and a faucet in the corner of the room. The mirror above the sink is broken. Jack washes the blood off his face and arms and runs his wet hands through his hair, then takes a gulp or two of water. Feeling a little refreshed, he starts checking the room for anything that might help him get out.

The room is very tiny and completely void of everything but a large bucket next to the sink and a chain hanging from the ceiling. The door is heavy, but a ray of light is coming from underneath it. Jack walks over to the door and reaches for the toolkit he used earlier in the day, but finds it missing. Of course, Taylor's henchmen wouldn't have taken any chances. When they disarmed him they took everything off him. Lucky they let him keep his clothes on.

Jack turns to the window and unshutters it. The first faint rays of light are visible on the horizon, the dark skies are slowly turning purple, but Jack doesn't notice the colors in the sky. His attention is focused on what lies ahead. Getting out.

The cannery is a very old building, the window frame is made of metal, but it doesn't seem too stable to him. Jack pulls at it hard and moves it back and forth. After a while, the window caves in and Jack takes it off its hinges. The cold, fresh air rushes in, replacing the stale smell in the room. Jack places the window on the floor and breaks out the glass with his shoe, then pulls the frame apart until he holds in his hands a piece that he can use as a bat.

He then fills the bucket with water and spills it underneath the door slowly, then takes the metal piece and waits for anyone on the outside to notice the flooded floor.

**Palmer**  
There's a silence on his end of the phone as Palmer reflects for what seems like minutes. He knows that if he sends the back up in now, he'll most certainly put Jack in a very dangerous situation. He remembers well what Bauer did for him last year and how much he risked to keep him alive. He owes him a lot. But he's the President now, and his decisions will affect many lives. This was a matter of national security after all.

What if Bauer failed? If CTU lets these guys get away, there's no way of telling what might happen. He realizes there is really only one choice he can make. "Ms Dessler, is there any indication that Bauer is still alive?"

Michelle glances at George before she replies. "We're not sure, Sir. We were told so, that's all we know."

**cannery**  
"Hey, what's going on here?", one of Taylor's henchmen is puzzled as he finds his shoes wet after stepping into the puddle of water in the hallway outside the room. And then it hits him. "Bauer."

He draws his gun before stepping any closer, unlocks the door and slowly and carefully opens it a little. Jack, waiting on the other side, pulls it open with a jerk and hits the man across the head with the window frame piece, once, then again and once more, just to make sure.

Glancing down the hall in both directions, Jack disarms the man, pulls him inside the holding room, closes the door behind him and heads off to find Lisa and Kim.

**Palmer**

Palmer makes the decision. "Send your back up team to the site. We cannot keep giving in to their demands."

"Yes Mr. President."

Palmer hangs up and sits on the sofa behind him, staring at the wall.

**05:59:57 --- 05:59:58 --- 05:59:59 --- 06:00:00**


	23. Chapter 23

**The following takes place between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.**

**06:00:02 --- 06:00:03 --- 06:00:04 --- 06:00:05**

**CTU**  
Michelle hangs up and looks around the office. Everybody knows the meaning of the decision that has just been made. All are silent and motionless for a moment, but as Tony grabs the headset from the desk and goes back to work, so do the rest of the staff.

Tony sends orders to the back up team to head out. "Andre will be directing you," he tells the leader, "Be careful out there. We don't have current sat feeds available and there's no telling who or what is around the cannery. Also, you'll need to land at least 100 yards outside of Jack's landing site. Taylor's men will be watching that area so we don't want to give anything away just yet."

George walks up to her. "Michelle, I can't stall any longer. I've got to call Taylor or he'll know something's wrong."

George regretfully places the call, not knowing he is preventing Taylor from heading down the flooded hallway.

**Cannery**  
"Is it done?" Taylor sits back down, resting his head against a leather chair in the only furnished room in the cannery.

"It's done," George lies, "We need to make arrangements to transfer Bauer and Elliott."

"We'll see..." Taylor smirks, "Upload the file to the following ISP."

As George copies the numbers, he passes it to Michelle. "I'll call you when it's completed."

"Oh, it shouldn't take long if you've already gotten word from the President. We'll speak soon, Mr. Mason."

**CTU**  
"I need someone who can do this now.", George announces.

Michelle's too busy, Tony can't work on it, Andre's with the back up team...

"Mr. Mason!"

George gives the ISP to Jennie, "I need you to do a mock up of a Presidential order reversing a dishonorable discharge to honorable for Pat Taylor. The file is on Michelle's current directory. How long will this take before you can send it?"

"Um..." Jennie pulls up the file quickly, "Ten minutes?"

"Okay, see if you can do it any faster."

**Cannery**  
Jack is cautiously progressing down the hallway, repeatedly looking over his shoulder, to make absolutely sure no-one is following. He tries the doors to the rooms that he passes. All are open and he takes a quick glance, gun ready, in each of them before he continues moving.

**CTU**  
Michelle grabs a headset. "Baker! I got them. Military jeep, heading North, they're almost at the main gate now. Four miles ahead. Get moving immediately!"

"Okay. Thanks. Keep talking to us, Michelle, don't let them get away."

Baker and several of the CTU agents jump onto a truck parked outside the port and take the road towards the gate. Baker takes out the radio and contacts the Navy team leader, giving him the information he just received. Nielson lets him know that they are close to there and they're going after them. "Okay. Get them! We're coming behind you. Over."

"Tony, Erickson's team is within range of the cannery." Andre has been directing the team and now the update is given. "They want to know if they have the okay to begin landing procedures?"

Tony nods in Andre's direction then turns to George, "They're landing."

"Get me on the channel. I want to hear everything!" George races to his office and shuts the door. Taking a deep breath before hitting the speaker button, he prepares himself to hear the mission and to not be able to do anything about its outcome.

**Cannery**  
Jack tries yet another door. It is locked. That must be it, he's thinking. He looks around, no-one there. The only thing he can do is try to smash it with the metal window frame piece or break it out. It's the far end of the hallway, Jack is hoping the sound won't travel far. One decisive blow and the rusty door handle comes right off. Jack catches it before it hits the ground, then remains silent for a moment and listens. All quiet.

His heart pounding, Jack opens the door slowly. He can see something in the center of the room. In the faint daylight coming through the small window, he instantly recognizes the body as Kim. Letting the door close behind him, he steps over to her, the sight of her sprawled on the floor like this is unbearable. But he's thankful to have found her. At least he can say goodbye.

But as he approaches her, she moves. "Kim!" Jack is startled, but immediately lifts her head up and removes the gag from her mouth. "Kim, sweetheart, are you okay?"

He can't believe the turn this situation has taken. And finally, it's a good turn.

"Daddy!" Kim can't yet put her arms around him because they're still bound but Jack quickly remedies that situation. "Where did you come from? How?" She leans back to take a look at him. He is bloody and bruises are already showing up. It's clear he's been through hell but she doesn't care. He's here and he's alive.

"I'm okay. My ankle..." She moves it a little as a test, "It doesn't matter." Kim hugs him tightly as if she'll never let go. "I'm so sorry, Daddy, I love you."

Jack buries his head in Kim's hair as he holds her, hardly able to prevent himself from crying while tears are flowing freely down her face now. "I love you, Kim. I love you so much..." he whispers to her. "Honey I'm so sorry I brought you into this." Although he doesn't want to let go, he knows they don't have much time before they're discovered.

Jack pulls back and kisses her forehead. "Kim, I know this is hard, but we have to try and get out of here immediately. They'll be looking for us soon." He glances around. "Do you know where Lisa is?" Through her sobs, Kim shakes her head no. "Alright, listen, I want you to stay right here. I'm not going anywhere, ok?" Jack gets up. "I'm right here..."

He takes a good look in every corner of the room, yet there is no sign of Lisa. But suddenly, a drop of blood catches his eye. He dips his finger in it, it's fresh. There's another drop not too far from the first and yet another after that.

Jack follows the blood trail to a closed, casket-like wooden box at the far end of the room. "No..." he voices softly and forcefully rips the lid off it, dread surfacing in his mind. "Lisa!"

Jack lifts her lifeless body out and places her flat on the floor. He bends over her to check her breathing. Nothing. "Don't die on me! Don't!", he utters as he closes his lips on hers and begins to give her mouth to mouth.

"Dad?" Kim ignores his order to stay put but when she sees what is happening, she wishes she hadn't. Her dad, leaning over Lisa, who has a gash in her head... it's too familiar a scene. Kim muffles a cry as she slides into a space between two crates and literally covers her eyes. Why now? Why this? They were almost out!

**truck outside Miramar / cannery**  
Nick pulls out a cell phone, while Mick is driving the jeep.  
"Taylor! What's going on there? We got set up! Dammit, you were supposed to make sure our back was covered!"

Taylor sits up straight, "What do you mean you got... Hold on." He swiftly checks the ISP number to find - nothing. The file has yet to be uploaded. "Petrov, get out of there. I've got Bauer and can take care of my end of the bargain. You're on your own. Good luck!"

He slams down the phone and decides time is up. Taylor secures the disc in his jacket and the clip in his gun - and a couple extra for good measure. "It's time, Bauer."

**Cannery**

Suddenly a heaving gasp comes from out of nowhere. Lisa coughs and gasps, unsure of what has happened. "J... Jack?"

"Lisa!" Jack breathes a sigh of relief. She's alive. She's okay. "Thank God..." He lifts her head up a little, so she can breathe easier. "Lisa, I thought... I'm sorry about everything. I never should have let you go out after them alone. This is all my fault." In case they never get out, she should at least know how he feels.

As Jack watches her lying on the ground, so weak and helpless, he clearly pictures Teri before his eyes. At least this time, he wasn't too late.

Lisa's breathing slowly begins to normalize. "Hey.. We gotta get out of here fast. Think you can make it?", Jack asks her.

"I can make it," With Jack's help, Lisa is able to get up quickly. "Kim?"

Kim joins both of them, "Let's get out of here." She takes shelter behind Lisa and Jack.

"There's a main entrance we were brought through but they probably have that watched. I never saw anything else." Lisa holds onto Jack's arm. He doesn't need to be sorry for anything. She'll tell him that eventually but right now they have to focus - be pros. "Jack..." Lisa takes just a moment to glance up at him, bruised and worn. He's beautiful in the small light that filters through the dark cannery and yet the words she wants to say won't come out. "Maybe this way..."

"The only way right now is through there." Jack points in the direction he came from and they start walking carefully. "There should be a tunnel underneath the cannery, built as an old escape route in case of an incident within the factory. I remember seeing that on a layout Andre sent me. All we need to do is find the entrance." He speaks as if it was the easiest thing in the world, like he was convinced of his words. The truth is, he doesn't even know if it still exists. But he wants to give them hope.

"Wait..." Jack notices the bodies of Tom and Bill stashed in the corner. He goes over to them swiftly and takes their guns and clips off them, quickly checks if they're loaded, then gives one gun to Lisa and keeps the other to himself as backup. "Come on." he motions to Lisa.

Kim's eyes are filled with fear. "Kim, we'll get through this. Trust me. Just stay close behind.", he tells her.

The three move forward in search of an exit.

**CTU**  
"Tony, the team is waiting for the go ahead. They're in position."

Tony calls George, "Have you heard from Taylor?"

"Negative. I can't get through. He either knows the file is a forgery or something has happened."

"Andre, tell the team to prepare to count down. Give them the five minute warning."

**Cannery**  
Taylor spies the broken door before his useless lookouts can make their way through the front hall. "You fools! If I didn't need your help, I'd shoot you right now! Find them! And don't mind turning back, they obviously didn't go the way you just came in!"

**On the run**

_Gun_. Lisa has to be a real agent again. She takes the safety off but holds the weapon at her side as they creep forward.

"Dad..." Kim starts to say something but Lisa indicates she needs to be quiet. There's movement somewhere.

"Bauer!"

All three stop upon hearing the shout echo around them. "Jack, they're behind us!" Lisa pushes Kim infront of her and they start to run.

"GO! GO! GO!", Jack shouts while Kim and Lisa run. He can't quite make out the silhouette of the man in the darkened hall, but the sound of the footsteps reveals his location. Jack fires two shots in the direction of the voice, before catching up with Kim and Lisa again. "RUN!" He grabs Kim's arm and pulls her along. Jack is visualizing the floor layout he saw earlier. There should be another corridor soon. "Left!" he shouts as it appears ahead of them.

More footsteps sound behind them. Jack stops at the corner. "Lisa, get Kim out of here. The tunnel should be at the end of this hallway. Whatever happens, don't turn around! GO!" Lisa reaches for Kim but Kim is hesitating. Jack loads a fresh clip into the gun and gets in position. "Don't argue with me now Kim. I'll catch up. Go!"

"Jack, if anything happens to you..." Instinct overtakes. Lisa quickly kisses him before leaving with a look that tells him he had better honor his word. It's time to go, no more holding back. She grabs Kim's arm and pulls her forward.

Jack watches them run and flattens himself against the wall, waiting behind the corner as the footsteps keep coming closer.

"Lisa! We can't just leave him back there!" Kim hasn't processed everything that just happened but she has just gotten her father back and she is not about to let him die now. "We have to stay with him!"

"He'll come." Lisa speaks the words to reassure herself, too. Of course Jack would come, he always did.

Jack watches as Lisa and Kim dash off towards the end of the hall, then focuses on taking out the bad guys behind him.

**Cannery tunnel**

"Jack's a bad boy," Taylor whispers over and over as he begins to descend the stairs into the tunnel exit, "Jack's a bad boy. Okay, girls. Come out, come out, wherever you are!" He shines a torch into the darkness. They must not be close to the end of the tunnel yet. Good, he'll corner them and dump their bodies into the sewer. Easy.

Taylor trudges forward. "Jack! Are you ready to see your daughter die? How 'bout Ms. Elliott? Come on, let's not waste any more time."

**CTU**  
"The team has entered the cannery." Andre begins the reporting. Tony, Michelle, and George huddle around their phones and headsets. "Two dead, not Jack, Lisa, or Kim. They're going forward into the main storage areas."

**Miramar**  
"HALT!" Nielson's team stops a vehicle trying to exit the compound. The Petrovs' vehicle refuses to stop. "This is Lovins. We are in pursuit of a rogue jeep, I repeat, we are in pursuit of a rogue jeep."

"Fire at will," Nielson gives the order.

**Cannery**  
"BAUER! STOP, DAMMIT!" Taylor's henchmen are running at full speed to catch up.

There's a concrete stanchion where the two gangways meet. Jack comes out of the hiding and jumps behind it, shooting both his guns simultaneously. His pursuers return fire. Jack fires back again and takes out one of the two. The other dives and rolls over to the wall, shooting randomly as he does so. Jack takes a quick breath before he peers behind the stanchion and shoots back, aiming downward.

Gunfire on the other end seizes. Jack takes another quick look to make sure both guys are motionless and immediately runs down the hall Lisa and Kim took just a couple of minutes ago.

John has run back into the big room above the main hall. He can see the CTU moving in and doesn't care much about catching Bauer. It wasn't _his_ daughter Jack'd killed. More importantly, he doesn't exactly feel like today is a good day to die. He is destroying everything that could be used against him and stashing other stuff into a bag.

Finally, he grabs a laptop, places it into a case and starts down the stairs, gun drawn, but yet hoping to avoid trouble somehow.

**jeep**  
(in Russian)

"Step on the gas Mick! Come on!"

"I'm trying!"

"Well try harder! They're closing in on us!"

Nick holds an assault rifle out of the window and starts shooting back at the CTU vehicle following them. "Get out of here!", he's shouting as Mick swerves and tries to shake off the agents.

**CTU / Field Ops**  
"Erickson, stay ready. This can't be going down as easy as it seems," George's voice is as calm as possible over the open channel.

"Copy that," comes the response. Erickson, in the lead, shines his flashlight down the hallway. No lasers, it's clear. He gives the signal to proceed but what he doesn't see are the men on John's payroll waiting for them to get close to the tunnel entrance before making a move.

"Nielson, do we have an update on the situation?" Tony radios his question to Miramar. "Nielson!"

**Miramar**  
Nielson's team pulls up directly behind the CTU team and, for the first time, knows who the bad guys are. "Yeah, Almeida, let the President know we have that vehicle stopped with two males inside."

Nielson has a wide grin on his face as he watches CTU's team cooperate with his in the takedown. "The Petrovs are in custody. I repeat, the Petrovs are in custody."

"What is the status of the SSBN?".

"They never got anywhere near it." Nielson steps directly over Nick, who's laying face first on the ground. "Take these dogs to the brig!"

**cannery gangway**  
While trying to find a way out, John notices the CTU teams taking control of the building now. He slips back into the paned room above the main hall. He breaks out a window and jumps out of the building, rolling over, then gets up swiftly and heads for the woods.

**Cannery tunnel**  
Kim huddles behind Lisa. A voice is coming closer from in front of them while the rush of footsteps nears in back.

"Jack Bauer, you've been bad. Come out so I can see you!" The voice is closer this time.

Lisa pushes Kim against the cold wall then flattens herself against it, gun ready. Neither one breathes as they wait for someone to appear out of the shadows.

There is obvious movement directly from behind. Lisa steps infront of Kim and calls, "Jack?"

Taylor is close enough to hear Lisa's call. He takes shelter in a dark corner knowing this is their only exit and they will have to pass directly by him.

"Shh..." Jack shows up behind them. He whispers as low as he can "We're not alone." He passes Kim and and moves in front of Lisa. "Stay back."

**Outside the cannery**

Above ground, Erickson's team has already cleared the rooms lining the inner hall. "This is Erickson," he reports in to CTU, "we have evidence of a struggle, possible break out. Three more dead."

Andre pulls up the schematics to check the team's progress. "Erickson, you should be nearing a tunnel entrance."  
Erickson's men move in quickly, "The door is up. Look's like someone has used it recently. I'm sending -"  
The radio transmission on CTU's end breaks into pops and crackles. Tony throws down his headset to race into George's office. "Are you listening!"

George's reaction to the gunfire is stunned silence. He can't help but think... no one will get out alive.

**cannery tunnel**

The group moves forward slowly, Jack in the lead. Lisa can feel herself getting lightheaded - likely from the wound to her head and the sudden movements. As she stumbles, Kim grabs her. "Are you..."

Lisa nods and motions for Kim to keep going. She can't help but think her career isn't worth this, no career is. How can Jack put Kim's life at risk? How can he do this day in and day out knowing people want to kill him _and_ his family?

A shot rings out just before Jack steps into Taylor's path. The madman jumps from his location, "Put your gun down and I'll let you decide which one dies first. Refuse and _I'll _make the choice."

Jack can feel Lisa's breath on his neck, she's close behind. They've gotten this far, he isn't about to give up on them now.

"You know I can't do that." He keeps his gun pointed at Taylor and doesn't budge. "How can you justify causing all the chaos today just to get revenge? That's insane, Taylor. Sick."

"Sick?" Taylor sneers at Jack, "Not any sicker than you letting your ex-lover kill your wife." He shakes his gun in Lisa's direction, "But I see you've found a replacement. Hmm... not bad, I suppose. A shame I'm trigger-happy." Taylor chuckles. "My wife left first, too. So let's see... that makes us, WOW! The same!"

He pulls back the hammer and prepares to fire.

Jack doesn't wait for Taylor to have a go. He fires a shot directly through Taylor's wrist.

As Taylor drops his gun in pain, Jack - in a matter of seconds - kicks him in the head, slams his elbow into his stomach, forces him on the ground and rests one knee on his chest, gun at his forehead.

"We're not. The same."

As Jack watches Taylor pant for air, it is clear that he wants nothing more than to pull the trigger. But he doesn't. He's a federal agent, he should bring him in. "You're such a sorrow creature."

"Go to hell Bauer." Taylor mutters and makes a sudden move with his good arm, in an attempt to slam the gun out of Jack's hand. Jack grabs his arm and glares right at him.

"You first."

Jack overturns his own decision not to shoot and pulls the trigger. Then he stands up and fires four more shots into Taylor's chest.

Finally. It is over.

**Sherry**

Sherry is sitting at a table, sipping a coffee, staring at the divorce papers in front of her. She hasn't slept all night, but she doesn't care. All those years are now behind them...

She used to love him at one point. Believe in him. Trust him. Support him.

But right now, she hates him. Period.

"Alright, David, you want to be President? Fine, you got there... You want to be President _without me_? Now, that's not an option."

Sherry grins as her eyes betray she has made a decision. She grabs the papers and signs them quickly, before she can change her mind. "There.", she utters as she stuffs them in an envelope and seals it. "Here you go, David. You're free. But God is my witness, you won't be President long. I'll do anything to make sure of that."

**Cannery tunnel**

Lisa shields Kim from the scene before them, literally hovering over her. Both are shaking and stunned into silence.

As the end comes, Kim breaks away from Lisa and runs to Jack. She hugs him tightly and whispers, "I'm so proud of you," as tears run down her cheeks.

"I'm proud of _you_, baby. You have been so strong today. So incredibly strong." Jack whispers back. He wouldn't let go of her, ever.

Lisa stares at Taylor, dead and defeated yet once so proud. She checks his pockets on instinct and finds a disc. "If he had any connection to Petrov, I thought he might be hiding it on him. He didn't plan to die."

He had planned that _they_ would die.

Jack lifts his head up from Kim's embrace. "Honey, we have to move. Come." He takes Kim's hand, they walk over to Lisa. Jack takes a look at the disc Lisa is holding. "Whatever was on that disc... Let's hope it was worth all this." He hugs Lisa with his free hand. "I'm so happy you're okay. I really am."

With Taylor gone, the three can finally move forward. Nearing the tunnel exit, they can hear shots outside. "The back up team." Jack motions to Lisa and Kim to stay down and cautiously walks up the stairs that Taylor had come down earlier. He lifts the door a little and surveys the surroundings. Dead bodies surround the entrance. Obviously CTU personnel. There's nothing but the woods around. Gunfire is far enough. "Okay, it's clear. Come up."  
Jack holds the door open until Kim and Lisa are out, then climbs out himself.

They start running through the woods until they get to where Jack had landed his chopper hours earlier. Like Taylor had ordered to his men, it has been burned. It's of no use.

But Jack notices a path through the high grass surrounding the area. "The back up team must have come through here. There's probably an intact chopper where they landed. Come on."

**Cannery **

Jack, Lisa and Kim run through the field as fast as they can, trying to get to the helicopter before anyone can find them.

CTU field ops agents suddenly swarm down around the clearing between the burned chopper and the mission team's landing site, guns drawn. Lisa and Jack throw up their hands and Kim follows suit. They stop for the mission team to join them. "Agent Bauer? Agent Elliott?"

"Yeah.", Jack affirms.

"Put your hands down. We've got a chopper waiting about 100 yards from here. Does anyone need medical attention?" Erickson takes a look at Lisa's wrists but she shakes her head no. He glances at Kim and Jack but they refuse. They want to go home. "Alright, let's get you on board."

"Thank you." Jack says.

All three of them follow the field ops team to the helicopter.

**CTU chopper **

Jack sits between Lisa and Kim as they lift off. Kim lays her head against Jack's shoulder, her hands clasped over his, her eyes closed. In the warm morning light, the city seems to shine brightly outside the chopper windows but Lisa is staring at the back of the pilot's seat unable to truly comprehend everything that has happened. Today's events are already replaying over and over in her mind. She jerks with each gun shot that she recalls. Jack's free arm goes around her but she barely notices. Right now she sees the men kicking him.

**CTU **

"Hey, guys! You might want to listen to this!" Andre puts on the speaker phone so everyone can hear. George and Tony stand at the railing outside George's office. "Repeat what you just said, Erickson."

"Rescue is a success, I repeat, rescue is a success. We are bringing Bauer, Elliott, and Bauer's daughter to CTU."

Loud applause rises through the office. Relieved, Tony shakes George's hand then runs down the stairs to join Michelle.

**06:59:57 --- 06:59:58 --- 06:59:59 --- 07:00:00**


	24. Chapter 24

**The following takes place between 7a.m. and 8a.m.**

**07:00:03 --- 07:00:04 --- 07:00:05 --- 07:00:06**

**CTU chopper **

There's silence in the helicopter, apart from the roaring of the rotors. Absent-mindedly, Jack stares out the window. The sun has risen, the shades of orange all over the city almost make the world seem careless. As he tries to truly relax for the first time in the past 24 hours, with the adrenaline rush just starting to wear off, he begins to feel the bruises on his body again. Had Taylor not walked in on his henchmen, they would have killed him right then and there, without a doubt. How many people died today? How many didn't have to? All because of one man and his desire for vengeance.

What that man wanted was revenge for the death of his daughter. He said they were the same. Jack begins to wonder how different they really are.

If Taylor had killed Kim, wouldn't he have wanted revenge?

**CTU **

Michelle takes off the headset and places it on the desk. She too breathes a sigh of relief and can't help but smile brightly. Kim isn't dead, Lisa and Jack are coming back, the purpetrators have been apprehended. It finally looks like the day is going to at least end well.

She remembers Catherine. She still can't believe they've had another mole inside CTU. But even that is over now. She's in custody. Everything is fine.

As Tony approaches her, she walks right up to him. "Hey, we did it. Jack did it." She glances around the room, finally everyone is relaxing. Michelle places her hand on Tony's shoulder and looks him in the eyes, smiling. "I'm sorry to have doubted you, Tony." She's sincere. "You've done a great job, even under the circumstances."

"Yeah, well..." Tony smiles a little and bites his lip before looking back at Michelle. "You made all the right calls today. Who else would have had the guts to override George's stand down orders? But more importantly," Tony unconsciously reaches for her hand, "Who else could I have trusted today? Michelle, you're the real hero here. At least... you made a big difference for me today."

"Ah, get a room you two..." George rolls his eyes as he walks by, "I'm going to need debriefing rooms available and the clinic ready. The chopper is going to land in about three minutes."

"It's not like that.." Michelle smiles bashfully at George's comment and pulls her hand back. To Tony: "Thanks, it turned out right, that's all that matters... I just want to go home right now, grab a shower." She takes a deep breath and glances at Andre's screen, which is showing the roof of the building, ready for Jack's chopper to land. "Alright, let's get Jack back in, finish this up, maybe then we can all go home."

Michelle puts a call through to the clinic. "We have three persons in need of medical attention. Prepare rooms immediately... Okay, thanks."

**CTU chopper **

Jack glances at Lisa's raw, bloody wrists, the cuts on her forehead, the bruises on her face. She suffocated, she almost died in that wooden box. A couple of minutes later and it would have been too late. She'll wear scars from this.

He can only imagine what she's been through, but she's holding up well. He pulls her a little closer, yet she doesn't react to it. She's lost in thought. Jack decides not to push it.

His eyes fall on Kim. So many times today, he thought he had lost her, just like they lost Teri almost a year ago. Her head is still resting on his shoulder. He kisses her gently. She's such a strong girl, just like her mother was. Jack is not sure how Kim will cope with the events of this past day, but he knows they'll get through it. Together.

For a moment, Jack can't help but think of Nina. She took genuine happiness away from them forever. But he had let the government handle it and she's in jail. And she'll stay there. To his own surprise, Jack realizes that despite everything that's happened, he still trusts the system.

Yes, he would have wanted revenge. But he wouldn't have taken it out on innocent people.

**LAX**  
An elderly man has been stopped by customs agents as he prepares to board a flight to Belarus. "Sir, we need the combination to your briefcase. It's not a request. It's an order."

"I am a diplomat. You cannot treat me this way." The man, smartly dressed, stands his ground.

"Sir," the customs agent smirks, "I don't care if you're the President of the United States. You don't give me the combination, I'll find a way to get into this briefcase." As the man turns around, we recognize him as the guy who brought Nick the disc the previous morning.

**Chopper**  
"We've got 60 seconds til landing!" The pilot makes the announcement, startling Lisa into the present and waking Kim.

"We're here already?" Kim sits up and looks around. For just a split second, she expects to see her mother in Lisa's place but then she knows... and it's okay. As the chopper lands, Kim takes the moment to hug her father once more and grab his hand. "Never letting go, Daddy."

"Agent Bauer," The door opens into the daylight and onto the roof of CTU.

**CTU roof**  
Jack glances at the agent at the door. It takes him a second or two to realize that they've arrived. He holds Kim's hand and exits the helicopter with her, then waits by the door. "Lisa." He puts forth his hand and waits for her to take it, then helps her out of the chopper. "It's over. Everything's going to be just fine." he promises to both of them as they walk towards the door.

Every noise resounds more loudly than the next. The doors that open clang against the frame as they pass by. Lisa feels like an outsider in this office, like she shouldn't be here. There is an awareness that Jack is holding her hand but, in reality, he is holding her up.

This is the first time Kim has been at CTU since Teri's death. As they enter the main doors, she shuts her eyes tightly. Hot tears rise to the surface. She won't be able to hold them back for long. "Daddy," she whispers and brings a hand to her mouth. But people, some she recognizes, others she doesn't, begin to intervene.

"Jack!" Tony rushes to him and shakes his hand.

"Hey Tony. Thanks for your help today."

"My pleasure.", Tony smiles. "Look, we've got rooms set up at the clinic and George wants to start debriefs as soon as possible but he knows you guys need a break."

"You brought 'em back," George meets the group with a smile. "But not without injuries..." the smile vanishes almost instantly. "What happened to you, Jack?" He looks him over then glances at Lisa, his eyes falling on her wrists then moving to her head. "Aww, Lisa..." George pulls her into a quick embrace, to which she does not respond. It is as if she's not really there.

When George lets go of Lisa again, Jack takes him aside. "Look, let's do the talking later, ok? They've been through hell and really, they just wanna go home. Let me take them somewhere quiet and then you and I can start the debrief. Alright?"

"Yeah, that's fine. You know where to find me when you're ready." George starts to walk away but is stopped by Tony.

"Hey, George?" Tony has a slight smirk on his face. "You two should really find a room."

Michelle is with Lisa and Kim. "Hey, welcome back. So glad you're okay."

_Okay? Alive, yes, but they don't look good._ Michelle tries to ignore the blood and bruises and look as composed as she can. "We've got a medical team waiting. We should probably get you to the clinic soon."

"Take Kim and Jack first." Lisa responds to Michelle quickly but quietly, "Kim's ankle is injured and Jack..." she sighs as she looks at him, "Michelle, they beat him up so badly... Make sure he's okay."

She takes Jack's hand and squeezes it, "I'll catch up with you, okay?"

"Where are you going?" The question comes from Kim, whose eyes are red and watery.

"Just something I need to wrap up. I'll be in the building." Lisa leaves for the direction of the office she'd been using earlier today.

**on the way to CTU clinic**

"Michelle, Lisa retreived a disc from Taylor back at the cannery." He gives it to her. "Find out what's on it."

"Of course." She stashes the disc into her pocket. "Jack, what happened out there?", Michelle can't help but ask, as they're moving towards the clinic.

"Taylor had some fun, that's all.", Jack dismisses it casually, glancing at Kim.

He doesn't want to talk about it. It's understandable. Michelle drops the subject. "Alright. Jack, room 1, Kim, go right next door."

Jack lets go of Kim's hand. "It's alright, honey, I'll be over here. I promise."

They enter the rooms, Michelle follows Jack. "You need anything?"

"Actually, I wouldn't mind a glass of water.", Jack says as he sits on the bed.

"Sure.", she smiles.

"Thanks."

"Agent Bauer, please take off your shirt." Jack does. Michelle fetches him some water and stands looking at him. _"they beat him pretty badly"_, doesn't even begin to describe what he must have gone through, with the condition his body's in.

"Jack, anything else?"

"No. I'm fine."

"Okay, I'll wait outside.", she says and leaves Jack with the doctor. She leans on the wall outside the room and buries her head in her hands, trying to forget what she just saw and regain composure.

**Clinic room 2**

"Okay, Kim, you said you were hit by a car but the hospital you were taken to took x-rays of your ankle and that is it?"

Kim nods in response, "When can I see my dad?"

"In a minute, he's not going anywhere." The doctor smiles but continues the check-up. "Well, it's not broken based on everything you've been able to do today but the tendons have been injured so I'll get you something for that. And... Kim, anything else?"

"No, nothing. I just want to get out of here."

**clinic corridor**

Tony finds Michelle outside the clinic room. "Hey, are you okay?" Obviously she's not, one look could tell anyone that.

But she nods, so he speaks softly, "I got a call from L.A.X. Customs. They flagged a guy trying to board a plane to Belarus. He claims he's a Diplomat but doesn't have papers and is carrying a briefcase he refuses to open. Could be nothing, but they thought we should check up on it." Tony pauses, "I can handle it. Just wanted to keep you up to date."

Michelle tries to smile, but she knows the smile probably just ended up looking odd. "Tony, I can't deal with this... I just can't." She shakes her head as she speaks. "Jack, and Lisa, and Kim, they're all... I keep thinking there must have been something we could have done."

George passes by Tony and Michelle and knocks on the door to Jack's room. "Figured the hero could use some new clothes." He puts a shirt and pair of pants on the counter then turns to the doctor. "Excuse us."

"Of course." The doctor turns to Jack before he goes and hands him a bottle of pills. "Agent Bauer. You should really consider taking these. The pain will only get worse."

"Thank you. I'll be fine."

The doctor shrugs his shoulders and turns around, but leaves the bottle on the counter next to the clean clothes. "Just in case.", he says and leaves the room.

Once they are alone, George sits across from Jack, "You look like you've been to hell and back. Can't say your daughter or Lisa look any better. What happened, Jack? Lisa won't talk to me. She's closed herself in that office of hers."

"I can't blame her." Jack wearily looks at George. "I don't even know where to begin..." Jack runs his hand over his face and sighs deeply. "It was pretty bad, George." He proceeds to give George a brief summary; tells him about the hall, the pole, the beating he got after trying to get Lisa out, about how happy he was when he found Kim alive, only to find Lisa locked up in a box, not showing any signs of life; about how he barely managed to revive her, how far Kim had to run with a hurting ankle. "I'm amazed at how strong they've both been. Anyone else would have given up."

**outside the room **

"Hey..." Tony puts his arm gently on Michelle's shoulder, "We couldn't have prevented anything. But we did what we are supposed to - we helped to give Jack the means to bring them back. And we'll come back tomorrow and do this again."

He smiles and brings her chin up with his fingers. "Just think what would have happened if you hadn't been here. George's orders would have gone through, the Petrovs would have succeeded, and I would have gone home." A soft chuckle escapes. "We couldn't have that, could we? Now, we've got reports to finalize and I've been assigned to Kim's debrief. I'd rather someone else sit in with me. You think you could do it?"

Michelle nods yes as she wipes her eyes. "Sure, uhm..." She's embarassed that Tony saw her crying and turns her head to the side and her eyes to the floor. "I just need a few minutes alone, okay? I'll be right there.." She heads to the ladies' room.

Tony watches Michelle walk away. There is an urge to follow her but he stifles it and returns to his desk where Andre is following up with LAX customs.

**clinic room 1 **

"I'm not surprised." George's response elicits a stare from Jack. "Kim's your daughter, Jack. You think she'd just give up? What I am surprised at is that you let her be separated from you here."

A soft knock on the door interrupts the discussion. "Dad?" Kim peeks her head through the open space. "Oh... I'm sorry..."

"No, come on in." George gets up and prepares to leave. "Your dad and I were just talking about how strong you've been. You can be proud of each other." He smiles briefly then is quite serious. "Jack, I'll have to call the President soon." George exits leaving Kim behind.

She is horrified by the sight of her father beaten and bruised. Kim stares at the floor as the tears she has been holding back finally are released. "I ditched school yesterday." It sounds absurd but she has to say it - it's what caused her to be vulnerable and kidnapped. "I ditched school and I've been smoking pot and... and... I miss mom."

"Hey, sit down." Jack pulls her next to him on the bed and hugs her tightly. "Your mom would have been proud of you. I am proud of you. You've done nothing wrong, Kim. Nothing, do you understand me?", he whispers. "These people wanted to get to you, they would have done so no matter where you were or what you were doing. Nothing was your fault. I should have protected you."

"I just hate being here, everywhere. This place...and today-" Kim stops talking when the door opens. George steps in, "I'm sorry," he apologizes, "Jack, I've got the President on the line. He'd like an update but when I told him you had arrived, he wanted to personally congratulate you."

"Kim, excuse me for a sec, okay? Try to get some rest." Jack gives her a quick kiss on the cheek and gets up from the bed, quickly puts on the clean t-shirt George brought in earlier, then grabs the phone from George and exits the room. "Mr. President. This is Jack Bauer."

"Jack. Welcome back. I heard the mission was successful. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Sir." Jack replies politely, though he doesn't really feel that way at all. "Mr. President, I think that you should know that we've got several suspects in custody and the SSBNs are safe and secure. However, there has to be an investigation as to who authorized the continuation of the project after it had been abandonned."

"I understand... There will be. How does this man Taylor fit into all this?"

"Apart from the grudge he had against me and George Mason, we do not know for sure yet, Sir. We are working on connecting the dots, but that will take some time."

"Alright, Jack. Keep me up to date. I won't take up any more of your time, I know you want to be with your daughter."

"Thank you, Mr. President."

Palmer hangs up.

Jack calls up Tony. "Hey, it's Jack. Could you check up on Lisa for me? Tell her the medics are ready for her and don't take no for an answer, okay?"

George pulls Jack aside after the phone calls are finished, "Look, I acted like a real jackass today while you were doing nothing more than what you should have been doing. Too bad all my employees aren't as heroic as you."

Jack shakes his head. "No, I did nothing heroic today George, I did what any father would have done, only most fathers wouldn't have to."

Jack's eyes are on George, but they're not looking at him. George glares at him, he's clearly suspecting what's coming.

**Lisa's office**

Tony steps into Lisa's office after she fails to respond to his knock. It's clear she has been crying though now he interrupts her working on her computer. "Lisa, Jack wanted me to let you know the medics are ready for you."

"Okay," she sniffs and wipes her face with the back of her hand, "Just let me finish here."

"You don't have to work on any reports. We've still got the debrief and that can wait."

Lisa chuckles, "The debrief, can't get out of that one."

She reaches for a paper that has printed and stuffs it into an envelope which she puts into her pocket. "I don't need a check up, Tony. My head wound was given to render me unconconscious, my wrists are raw from being rubbed against ropes used to keep me from moving, and the bruise on my face is from being slapped."

Tony doesn't know how to respond.

"The physical wounds aren't in need of repair.", she adds.

And he understands. It's not the pain inflicted upon her that will be the scar she carries forever. It's what she saw.

Tony holds open the door and lets her pass infront of him.

**Clinic gangway  
**Jack finds his focus again. "George, I can't do this any more. I cannot allow for Kim to live in fear every day, I don't want to put her at risk any more. She can't go through something like this again, and frankly, I don't think I can, either."

George is giving him the are-you-kidding-me look, but Jack doesn't care. "I'm retiring for good, George. And I'm not coming back."

"You're going to give up now?" George rubs his forehead to fight from yelling, "After everything... after today... Jack, there's so much you can still do for this office, this country! We don't have to send you into the field, you can stay here. You can network."

Tony has been following Lisa to the clinic after she reluctantly agreed the wounds to her wrist could easily get infected. George and Jack are talking and it's clearly not good.

"Hey, Lisa's going to get looked at quickly..." The looks he gets from both men say he has interrupted an important conversation. "I need to do some follow up work."

Tony retreats to his desk. Michelle meets him there.

"Tony, look at this. Jack and Lisa retreived this disc from Taylor. It has our files on it. It's what Catherine made available to them." She points to the files on the screen. "Including the one on our undercover agents. I can't be absolutely sure yet, but it does seem like it hasn't been manipulated." She smiles at him "Maybe their only aim was to discover if anyone worked against them on the inside and not to sell the information."

Tony nods absent-mindedly. She thinks she hears him mumble something like 'That's great' but she understands it makes no difference to him. The mistake he made last morning will bug him for at least a while.

**clinic**

"George, could you excuse us?" Lisa waits for George to leave before addressing Jack. "You made Tony bring me to the clinic?"

"Yeah." Jack brings Lisa into an empty room. "Look. Lisa, with what you've been through today, you should really just take some rest. You shouldn't just keep working." Finally, they have a moment to themselves. He gently caresses a cut on her brow. "I'm so sorry. It breaks my heart to see you like this."

"Jack..." She lays her head against his shoulder for a few precious moments. He's making it harder than it already is for her to do what she has to do. Lisa looks into his eyes, soft and calm. How long has she waited for this? How long has she wanted this? And now... she is willing to walk away? "I... uhm... Wow, I didn't think this would be so hard."

She pulls the envelope from her pocket and hands it to him. "I wanted you to be the first to know." Even as he is removing the letter and reading it, Lisa is fighting for the right words to explain her motivation. "Today was the first day I actually understood what it was to be afraid. I can't do that, Jack. I can't ever do that again."

Jack knows exactly what she's talking about. And yet, he stares at her letter incredulously. "Resignation? You're too good an agent, Lisa. You were afraid, but you got out. You made it through."

"But I failed, Jack." Lisa clasps his hand tightly in hers, "You always told me the first thing to do with a case was to never make it personal. I did. I lost Kevin, I watched Michael die, I saw you beaten, and I kept thinking... I couldn't protect Kim from any of this."

She steps forward slowly and kisses him, "I'll always adore you, Jack Bauer. But now is the time for you to be with your daughter."

**CTU main office  
**Kim has made her way from the clinic to Tony's desk. "Have you seen my dad?"

"Uh... Kim, why don't you wait here? Just relax, okay? He's got a lot of things to deal with right now but he'll be out as soon as he can." Tony pulls a chair beside him and hands her an unopened water bottle. "You made it. Take some time to breathe."

Kim smiles and thanks him for the water. "I just want to go home."

**clinic room**

Jack closes his arms around Lisa's waist. "I will be. But that doesn't mean I can't be with you, too." Lisa just shakes her head no, a teardrop falling from her eye. She tries to turn around, but Jack won't let go, he pulls her back towards him. "Lisa, you're a big part of the reason Kim is still alive. I owe you everything today." He can't just let her walk away like that. Not after all that's happened.

"If it wasn't for you, Tony would have put me behind bars, we never would have found Kim, and Taylor would have gotten what he wanted...", he smiles. "Hey, you're much better at this game than what you are giving yourself credit for." Jack hands the letter back to her and is suddenly serious. "I understand your reasons for wanting to quit CTU. I'll support that. No-one should go through what you've gone through today."

A strand of hair is hanging down covering her eye, he moves it gently to the side. "But you can't just give up on us. I haven't felt like this since..." Jack closes his eyes for a second, then looks at her again. "Don't leave. Please."

"I have to," Lisa whispers softly fighting back a full onslaught of tears. The look in Jack's eyes is tearing her apart and is nearly making her change her mind... but it's not enough. She has hurt too many people because of her selfishness over the years and this will be the last. "Please let me go."

As if a spell is broken, Jack relinquishes her to the future. Lisa feels his arms slip from her waist and she can step back. "I'll call you," she holds his hand for a second more and then walks out.

As Jack lets go of her hand and watches her walk away without turning back once, he realizes he lost her for good this time. After Lisa disappears behind the door, he leans his hands and head on the wall infront of him. This job has destroyed everything he ever loved; taken away any chance of happiness; Kim has never been the same since Teri's death and this day won't help get things back on track, either.

It takes him a while to get himself back to normal, but he does. He lifts his head up again and heads for the door. At least he's going to try and make things right with Kim.

**CTU gangway**

On his way to CTU's main office, Jack sees Catherine being led away from the interrogation room by two security guards.

"Jack! I see you made it. I don't know whether I should congratulate you or send a killer after you.", she calls out to him.

"Stop!" Jack orders the security guards and walks over to her, pointing a finger to her face. "You have done nothing more but cause chaos today and you've proven you're just like your father. For sale."

"Jack you scum, I'll get to you! I'll kill you!" she screams and tries to break away from the guards, but the cuffs and the tight grip they have on her prevent her from doing that.

Jack shakes his head in disgust. "Well, he would have been proud of you, Catherine. I hope you have someone who is just as fond of you because they'll have many years time to visit you in jail. Congratulations, Cath. You've made it." He motions to the guards. "Take her away."

As they move again, Catherine is still shouting something, but Jack ignores it. He won't waste another minute with her when he should be with Kim. He walks down the hallway, without turning back.

**CTU main office  
**Jack finds Kim at Tony's desk. "Hey, sweetie..." He wraps his arms around her as she gets up from the chair. "Let's get you home."

Michelle glances at Tony, then at Jack. "Aren't you supposed to do the debrief? You know how this works. George won't just let you go, Jack."

"I don't care. I'll come in later. I'm taking my girl home." He spots George coming right at them. "Michelle, Tony, you did a great job today. Thanks for everything. I won't forget it."

He takes Kim's hand and goes to meet George. "George, listen up. This whole thing is over, the debrief can wait. I want Kim to get some rest. I wanna take her home."

"I know it's over," George isn't smiling or showing much emotion. He has just finished talking with Lisa and they've said their goodbyes. "Don't worry about the debrief right now. Lisa will be back tomorrow before leaving for New York. Convenient that two of the best agents decide to quit on the same day."

Tony and Michelle stare in shock at George. Lisa, who had been walking past with her computer and briefcase, knows she was meant to hear those words. But Tony asks the question, "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you know? Jack here has decided that he's been hero enough. Seems he's decided to resign for good."

The room is quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

Lisa takes a deep breath. Her decision has been made and she's going home, she won't turn back now. She would hurt Jack and Kim. With a slight but noticeable final look at Jack and Kim, Lisa walks out of CTU.

"Jack," George shakes his hand, "I'll contact you later. Get Kim home, watch a movie, do something to relax."

Once George is out of the way, Tony - still shocked - says his goodbye. "Keep in touch, okay? This place won't be the same without you."

"Yeah... alright..", Jack answers absent-mindedly. He has no intention of walking within these walls again in this lifetime. Without further ado, he walks past Michelle, who's too shocked to say anything, and curtly states "I'll send in a report.", before he exits the office, still holding Kim's hand.

**CTU garage**

Kim and Jack head down to the garage and climb in the SUV. He can clearly see that she is still processing the events of the day. Before he starts the engine, he kisses her cheek and looks at her affectionately. "I love you, sweetheart. I'll take care of you now. Everything's going to be just fine, Kim. I promise."

The drive home is quiet. Neither Kim or Jack speak, both lost in their own thoughts. But, as they pull up to the house she never thought she would see again, a flood of painful memories returns.

**Bauer house**  
Kim stands behind Jack as he opens the door. The morning light reveals the house in disarray - just like they left it yesterday. Jack has gone further in, placing his gun and CTU badge on the counter, but Kim stands in the front hall staring straight ahead, then suddenly she speaks, "Mom's never coming back and Lisa's gone."

She watches Jack turn to give her a quizzical look. "I'm not stupid, Dad. I know that you two were more than just working partners and I know you're hurting because she left. You've got that look, just like when Mom died. You're lost again."

Agonizing thoughts of the past few months run across her mind. Kim crosses the room and sits on the sofa, burying her head in her hands for a moment. "Dad, I can't live here. I can't be in the place where... where you won't forget and I won't forget that she was here."

Jack stares at her, not moving from the spot. She is right. He's feeling lost. In pain, but not because of the bruises he's been given. And yet he can sense that this house isn't the only thing she wants to part with. He takes one step towards her. "Kim, don't do this. Please, I can't lose you too..."

"Dad..." Kim walks from her place on the couch to where he is standing and hugs him tightly, "You'll never lose me, never. But being here can't be easy on you, either. When I'm here, all I think of and see is Mom... I need to be away from here."

She holds him tightly for a moment longer than lets go. "Please understand how hard this is for me too." Her eyes glisten with tears, "I've been thinking about this for a while. School just isn't going to work out, not now. I can get a job and... we'll work out something."

"Quit school? What are you gonna do? You can't just walk away from everything. Believe me, I tried. It doesn't work."

Jack takes a deep breath before continuing.

"Kim, listen.. I know I haven't been the father that you needed me to be. I didn't care about what happened to me and I know I didn't do enough to help you get through these past few months. I know I wasn't there for you and I'm sorry. But right now you and I need to stick together on this. We have to try and work things out with each other. Let me be there for you now."

Maybe he was right... At least about sticking together. But Kim knows she isn't going to be able to talk to him right now, they're both too emotional.

She hugs him again, "We can talk later, okay? I really need some sleep. You, too, okay?" Kim quietly heads for her room. Before closing the door, she turns to Jack and says, "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, sweetie." Jack nods and tries to smile at her while she leaves the living room. What he'd give to make this day go away, to just sit down and play a nice game of chess with her.

Once inside her room, the tears come again.

As Jack watches her walk away, he knows she had grown up. The little girl that she was yesterday was gone forever. She had somehow managed to live a somewhat normal life after what Gaines had done to her and after Nina had killed Teri. She hadn't forgotten, but she was learning to cope, even though he hadn't been there for her.

But she would never just carelessly walk down a street, she would always be looking over her shoulder for as long as she lived. He had failed to protect her from that, from Taylor, from having to go through all the horror she had faced.

And suddenly, Jack understands. He would never be able to protect her as long as his past could come back to haunt him at any given time and threaten them both. He can hear her sobbing in her room and it'is breaking his heart.

Gun in his hand, Jack drops to his knees and closing his eyes, breathes in and out deeply once, but then lets himself fall sitting on the floor, next to the pieces of the shattered phone. He stares at the gun next to him on the carpet.

And cries.

**07:59:57 --- 07:59:58 --- 07:59:59 --- 08:00:00**

Dedicated to the one and only Kiefer Sutherland and his greatest character to date :-)

**Written somewhere between July and November 2004. At that point I had only seen s1 and s2 of 24, so any similarities with s3 or s4 are purely because our minds tick 24 ;-). thanks for reading and I hope you liked it.**


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